Oliver DeMille

Oliver Van DeMille is an American author, educator and public speaker. He is the founder of an educational model known as TJEd, and the co-author of LeaderShift: A Call for Americans to Finally Stand Up and Lead, which was published in 2013 and appeared on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

History

DeMille was born and raised in Hurricane, Utah and attended Brigham Young University on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. He took a two-year hiatus from his studies to fulfill an LDS mission in Barcelona, Spain, and subsequently married Rachel Pinegar in 1989. He and his wife have eight children.

As an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University, DeMille was personally mentored by and worked independently with W. Cleon Skousen and submitted this work to Coral Ridge Baptist University (CRBU), an unaccredited school which awarded him a B.A. (Biblical Studies) and M.A. (Christian Political Science) in 1992, and then a PhD (Religious Education) in 1994. CRBU was a Bible college with a philosophy of close mentorship and intense studies, and the objective to train its graduates for service in military chaplaincy, education and ministry. In 1994, DeMille returned to BYU and completed his B.A. in International Relations from BYU.