General André Cox (born 12 July 1954) is the former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) and 20th

General of The Salvation Army General is the title of the international leader and chief executive officer of The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive Charitable organization, charitable social work, social services that gives quasi-military rank to its Min ...

. He was commissioned as an

Officer in The Salvation Army An officer in The Salvation Army is a Salvationist who is an ordained minister of the Christian faith, but who fulfills many other roles not usually filled by clergy of other denominations. They do so having been trained, ordained and commissi ...

on 25 May 1979. He was elected to the position of General by the 18th

High Council of The Salvation Army The High Council of The Salvation Army elects a new General of The Salvation Army, general in the event of a vacancy or prior to the retirement of the existing office holder. It can also remove a general who can no longer fulfil their duties. The ...

on 3 August 2013 and retired on 3 August 2018; he was succeeded by Brian Peddle. He was the Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army from 1 February 2013 to 3 August 2013. In the wake of the unexpected retirement of General Linda Bond in June 2013, Cox fulfilled the duties of General as Acting General for about two months until his actual election. Born in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

, today

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, to an English father and Swiss mother, Cox spent his childhood years in Southern Rhodesia and the United Kingdom, before moving to Switzerland where he met and married Silvia Cox (''née'' Volet), who was born to Swiss parents in Argentina. He is the son of Commissioner Ron Cox, who was the Salvation Army's 17th Chief of Staff from 1987 to 1991.

Officership

Cox was commissioned as a

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

officer on 25 May 1979 and spent the early years of his ministry as a corps officer in Switzerland. In 2005, Cox was appointed as the territorial commander of The Salvation Army's work in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

; a post he held until he took command of the Southern Africa Territory in October 2008. Cox and his wife Silvia spent four years as leaders of the Salvation Army’s Southern Africa Territory, which includes work in the countries of South Africa,

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, the Islands of

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and

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

. They then served for 6 months as the territorial leaders of the United Kingdom with Ireland Territory. When he took up his appointment as Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army, Cox followed in the footsteps of his father, Commissioner Ron Cox, who served as the Chief of the Staff from 1987 to 1991. On 13 June 2013, when General Linda Bond unexpectedly retired from the position of General of the Salvation Army, Cox became Acting General of The Salvation Army. The

met on 29 July 2013 to begin the process of electing a new General. On 31 July 2013 Cox was nominated by the High Council as a candidate for the 20th General of The Salvation Army, and on 3 August 2013 was elected General of The Salvation Army. Cox retired on 3 August 2018. He was succeeded by Brian Peddle.

Appointments

Retirement

In February 2018, Cox announced his retirement with effect on 3 August 2018. Cox, following the form of several of his predecessors, will have been General for exactly five years. The

chose Brian Peddle as Cox's successor in May 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Andre Living people Salvation Army officers People from Harare English Salvationists English people of Swiss descent White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean people of English descent 1954 births