Tillsley will take over as the new international head of the organisation.

General-elect Tillsley has been serving as the Salvation Army's Chief of the Staff, second in command, since 1991.

The Canadian was appointed by the High Council 1993 Sunbury Court and will succeed General Eva Burrows.

Commissioner Tillsley, the son of salvationist parents, was educated in Kitchener, Ontario, and at the University of Western Ontario where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. Further studies were taken at Wycliffe college in Toronto.

Following employment with the Children's Aid Society, he entered The Salvation Army College for Officer Training together with his wife, Maude (nee Pitcher) in 1955.

Throughout the years, Commissioner Tillsley has held numerous Salvation Army posts in Canada, the United States and Australia.