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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its new presiding bishop Friday.

Bishop Gérald Caussé will serve as the new presiding bishop. Dean M. Davies and W. Christopher Waddell will serve as the first and second counselors respectively, according to the LDS Church.

The changes are effective immediately, but there will be a transition period.

Bishop Gérald Caussé

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France native Bishop Gérald Caussé, 52, was formerly the first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. He has also served as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and as a counselor in the Europe Area Presidency.

Bishop Caussé is the second presiding bishop to be called from outside the United States and the first who speaks English as a second language.

Bishop Caussé has a master's degree in business from France's ESSEC Business School, where he graduated in 1987.

He worked in the food industry as the general manager a food distribution company in France called Pomona. He also worked with several supermarket chains and food distribution companies and as the director of logistics for international grocery retail firm, Carrefour group.

He and his wife, Valérie Lucienne Babin, have five children and five grandchildren

Bishop Dean M. Davies

(Photo: © 2015 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved)

Bishop Dean M. Davies, 64, was formerly the second counselor in the presiding bishopric. He has worked for the church since July 1995. He was most recently the managing director of the Special Projects Department and was the mission president of the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission. He also speaks Spanish.

Before working for the church, Bishop Davies worked for a Pennsylvanian company called High Industries, Inc. and a company based in San Francisco called Bechtel Investments, Inc. He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics. He also finished advanced executive programs at Stanford University and Northwestern University.

Bishop Davies and his wife, Darla James, have five children and 14 grandchildren.

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell

(Photo: © 2015 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved)

Elder W. Christopher Waddell, 54 has been serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy since 2011.

Born in Los Angeles, he graduated from San Diego State University in 1984. That year, he began working with Merrill Lynch and was at one point its first vice president of investments.

Bishop Waddell was a full-time missionary in Spain and speaks Spanish. He married Carol Stansel, in July 1984. Together, they have four children and three grandchildren. They currently live in Lima Peru, where he is a counselor in the South America Northwest Area presidency. He will stay there while his responsibilities are transferred.

The LDS Church announced three new apostles at its semiannual General Conference Saturday, including Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund.

The presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy was also partially reorganized as Renlund was formerly its president. L. Whitney Clayton was called as the organization's new president and Gerrit W. Gong will fill Clayton's former position in the presidency.

These changes follow the death of Elder L. Tom Perry,President Boyd K. Packer and Elder Richard G. Scott.

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