“Elder Ronald A. Rasband Of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 2000, 103
Elder Ronald A. Rasband
Of the Seventy
“Family, Church, and career—these three threads of my life have always been intertwined,” says Elder Ronald A. Rasband, father of five, recently returned mission president, and former president and chief operations officer of Huntsman Chemical Corporation. “I’ve always tried to do my best with each one.”
Currently a resident of Sandy, Utah, Elder Rasband was born on 6 February 1951 in Salt Lake City to Rulon and Verda Rasband. He served in the Eastern States Mission from 1970 to 1972, spending much of his time in New York City. Afterward, he attended the University of Utah, where he met his wife, Melanie Twitchell.
They were married on 4 September 1973 in the Salt Lake Temple. Soon, he was attending college full time and working full time while he and his wife raised their young family. In their university stake, he met Jon Huntsman, who was on the high council. The following year, Brother Rasband began working for the company that eventually became Huntsman Chemical Corporation. During the next 20 years, he had responsibilities for businesses throughout the world, including in Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia.
“The Lord has put in my path great men who have been mentors to me,” he says. “They have had a huge influence on my life.”
In 1996 Elder Rasband returned to New York City as president of the New York New York North Mission. “My greatest growth as a Church leader came during those years,” he says. “The Lord really schooled me in doctrine and humility.”
Out of a desire to be with his children and give them experience, Elder Rasband rotated taking one of them with him to sacrament meetings when he served as bishop of a student ward at the University of Utah as well as when he made international business trips.
Prior to his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Rasband served on the Church’s Member-Missionary Advisory Committee.
“My testimony has come as the result of a lifetime of many special experiences,” Elder Rasband says. “I look forward to serving the Lord in whatever capacity I can.”