Hans Mattsson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1950. He has a twin brother and two older brothers. The whole family were faithful Latter Day Saints. Hans is third generation LDS, and he graduated from College in 1969.

Hans served as a missionary for the LDS Church in the Birmingham England Mission, 1970-1972. He also served in the Swedish armed forces in Gothenburg, and it was during this time he met his future wife Birgitta, who had converted to the Mormon faith when she was 16 years old. Birgitta and Hans were married in 1974, and sealed in the Swiss Temple. They now have five children and 12 grandchildren.

Hans started his career in sales, working for IBM. His professional career has been within sales and information technology, and has held many managerial positions. He ended his carrier as a partner in a Swedish IT-company.

As a very active LDS member, Hans served in many church positions such as branch president, bishop, high council member, stake presidency, stake president, and mission presidency. He followed all of those with a calling as area seventy in the Europe Central Area, headquarters in Frankfurt Germany. He served from April 2000- April 2005. In this position Hans worked with several general authorities and with one of the apostles. Birgitta was very supportive during all his callings and also served in many church positions at ward and stake level.

After some health issues, including a heart bypass surgery, Hans and Birgitta decided to move to a warmer climate and made Spain their home in 2013.