Juan Pablo Villar Saavedra was born in Valparaiso, Chile, on September 11, 1969. He married Carola Cristina Barrios in 1994. They are the parents of three children.
He received a bachelor’s degree in social communications and public relations in 1994 and a master’s degree in marketing in 2002. He also obtained a master of business administration from Brigham Young University in 2007.
He has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Chile Viña del Mar Mission, counselor in a bishopric, bishop, stake president, ward executive secretary, counselor in the Santiago Chile East Mission presidency, ward Young Men president, and high councilor. At the time of his call, Elder Villar had been serving as a member of the Seventh Quorum of the Seventy in the South America South Area.
Elder Villar previously served as second counselor in the South America South Area Presidency. He is currently serving as president of the Spain Barcelona Mission.
His work experience includes commercial and marketing positions in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry. He has also worked in the mining industry since 2008, running business improvement programs in Latin America and, most recently, working as a senior manager.