About the Bishop-Elect / Sobre el Obispo Electo

The Rev. Dr. Antonio José Gallardo Lucena — Biography

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The Rev. Dr. Antonio José Gallardo Lucena was elected eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on November 8, 2025, by clergy and lay delegates to Diocesan Convention meeting in Riverside, California. Having received consents from the bishops and standing committees of the dioceses of The Episcopal Church, he is scheduled to be ordained and consecrated to the episcopate on July 11, 2026, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California.

Bishop-elect Gallardo L., 58, is currently rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas Episcopal Church in Long Beach, serving the parish since February 2022. Previously, from 2019 to 2022 he was priest-in-charge and then vicar of St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church in La Crescenta, and from 2015 to 2019 served as pastor for Latino ministries at All Saints, Pasadena. From 2020 to 2024 he facilitated the diocesan group of clergy serving Latino-Hispanic communities.

A native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Bishop-elect Gallardo L. is the first Latino to be elected bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Among current leadership appointments, Bishop-elect Gallardo L. is a trustee of the New York-based Episcopal Divinity School and chairs its investment committee. Locally, he is a board member of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, and chair of its safety committee; and a member of the PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) California State Council.

In the Diocese of Los Angeles, he is a member of the coordinating group of Sacred Resistance, Los Angeles, an immigration justice ministry. He was elected to the Corporation of the Diocese in 2020 and appointed to the joint budget committee. In 2022, he was elected to the diocesan Standing Committee, from which he resigned in 2025. Prior to his election as bishop, he recused himself from previous meetings at which the bishop search was discussed. He also served as the Standing Committee’s representative to the Corporation of the Diocese and the diocesan Program Group on Mission Congregations. In addition, he served on the diocesan capital campaign committee and has been active with the ministries of Communion Across Difference and GLEAM (Gathering LGBTQ+ Episcopalians in Active Ministry).

Bishop-elect Gallardo L. represented the Diocese of Los Angeles as a deputy to the 2024 General Convention and in 2015 was appointed by former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and President Gay Jennings as chair of the Resolution A-086 Task Force for Latino-Hispanic Congregational Development and Sustainability. He was also an appointed member of a churchwide group consulting on Latino-Hispanic ministries and in 2020 was elected to the Joint Nominating Committee for the search for the 28th Presiding Bishop.

Ordained to the priesthood in 2019 in the Diocese of Los Angeles, Bishop-elect Gallardo L. earned an M.Div. degree from Claremont School of Theology in 2018 and a diploma in theology from Bloy House. He also holds a Ph.D. in Business and Economics from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (2004), and an M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering also from Lehigh University (1993). An M.S. candidate in Industrial Management, Universidad Experimental Politécnica, Venezuela (1993), he also holds a Certificate-Information Systems Management from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan (1993); and a B.S. with honors in Information Systems Engineering, from Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA) Venezuela (1990).

Bishop-elect Gallardo L. is lecturer in the college of business of California Polytechnic University, Pomona, teaching since 2016 at the undergraduate level with specialties in business management, innovation, social entrepreneurship, and business strategy. Previously, from 2008 to 2015 he was an instructor in the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Engineering, Information Systems and Technical Management, and in 1995-96 was a research engineer in Lehigh University’s Iacocca Institute managing a National Science Foundation project to develop career paths for under-represented individuals pursuing family-sustaining jobs. Also, from 1990 to 1993, he was a professor in the School of Sciences at the Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA), Venezuela.

Bishop-elect Gallardo L. also is president/chief executive officer, since 2005, of Fundamental Resources for Advancement & Innovation (FRAI), Inc., a management consulting firm promoting strategic decision-making in non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, private entities, government agencies, and religious organizations, offering research and evaluation, planning and strategy, operational efficiencies, and governance. Previously, in 1988-1993 he was project manager in the information systems department of Products of Corn Corporation (PROMASA), Venezuela, increasing interdepartmental collaboration and maximizing the benefits of the use of information technology.

In the non-profit and philanthropic sector, Bishop-elect Gallardo L. was in 2010-2013 chief program officer for First 5 Los Angeles, a public foundation dedicated to promoting early childhood development. There he oversaw implementation of a program grant-funded portfolio exceeding $1 billion, managing an annual budget of $200 million and the selection and monitoring of more than 300 grantees.

Previously, in 2002-2005 he was deputy director of FIELD (Farmworker Institute of Education & Leadership Development), a division of the César E. Chávez farmworkers movement nationally promoting accessibility to mainstream of the U.S. economy to marginalized Latino groups through workforce development, policy, and advocacy. This role followed his work in 1996-2002 as president/CEO of PhAME, Inc. (Philadelphia Area Accelerated Manufacturing Education), a workforce development effort providing access to family-sustaining jobs for under-represented groups while supporting the regional manufacturing sector.

Bishop-elect Gallardo L. is fully bilingual (English and Spanish) and speaks basic Italian and Portuguese with a willingness “to learn more languages to speak the language of the heart of more people in the Church.”