General-elect chooses first woman Chief of the Staff

Following extensive consultation and much prayer, the General-elect, Commissioner Shaw Clifton, has selected Commissioner Robin Dunster to be Chief of the Staff – second-in-command of the international Salvation Army – effective 2 April 2006. She is currently Territorial Commander in The Philippines. General John Larsson, in making the announcement, writes: 'The commissioner is a gifted and widely experienced internationalist.'

Commissioner Dunster was the Vice-President of the 2006 High Council and will be the first woman to hold the appointment of Chief of the Staff.

The commissioner, 62, entered the International Training College in London, UK, from Dulwich Hill Temple, Australia Eastern Territory, in 1969. Two years later she was commissioned an officer and appointed to medical work in the then Rhodesia Territory. She also served in her home territory, returned to Zimbabwe as chief secretary and was Territorial Commander in Congo (Kinshasa) and Angola before taking charge of Salvation Army work in The Philippines in March 2002.

The General has also announced that, after 'outstanding international ministry' as Chief of the Staff and World Secretary for Women’s Ministries, Commissioners Israel L. Gaither and Eva D. Gaither are returning to the USA to take up appointments as National Commander and National President of Women’s Ministries. They will farewell from International Headquarters on 1 April and, following leave, take up their new appointments on 1 May 2006, succeeding Commissioners W. Todd Bassett and Carol A. Bassett, who are entering retirement.

The General concludes: 'I know that Salvationists everywhere will want to uphold our comrades in prayer as they prepare for their new appointments.'