Timothy Cross
UK Office Director
Tim Cross was born in 1951 and commissioned into the British Army in 1971, having spent two years at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. His first tour was in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), after which he completed an In-Service Degree at the Royal Military College of Science. A tour with 22 Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery, as they received RAPIER, was followed by the Ammunition Technical Officers’ course and a tour in Northern Ireland on EOD/IED (Bomb Disposal) and Ammunition Inspectorate Duties. Moving back to BAOR he was Adjutant of 1st Ordnance Battalion and then had a tour with the UN in Cyprus. Completing an MSc in Guided Weapons (GW) he then attended the Army Staff College in Camberley as a student in 1982/83 and then moved to Paris to assume a Tri-National GW appointment on the MILAN anti-tank programme.
Company Command within 1st Ordnance Battalion was followed by a return to Camberley as a member of the Directing Staff in Feb 88; having taught for a year he took over as the SO1 G3 Training/Plans and was heavily involved in a complete overhaul of the Army Command and Staff Course after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism. Moving back to BAOR in Sep 90 he assumed Command of 1st Ordnance Battalion and, in a double-hatted appointment, was Commander Supply 1st (UK) Armoured Division; he deployed with the Divisional HQ to the Gulf for Operation GRANBY (Desert Storm) in 1990/91.
Completing his tour in late 1992 he was promoted to Colonel and became the first Commander Logistic Support of 3rd (UK) Division. He attended the Higher Command and Staff Course in early 1995, served in the Balkans with IFOR on Op RESOLUTE and was then selected for promotion to Brigadier.
In Dec 97 he took over command of HQ (UK) NSE with SFOR on Op LODESTAR and, at the same time, assumed command of CSSG (UK), retitled 101 Logistic Brigade in Jun 99.
In Jan 99 101 Logistic Brigade deployed to Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo; as Commander he was the Joint Force Logistic Component Commander for the UK Contribution to KFOR, and was appointed CBE in the subsequent operational awards. He handed over command in Jan 00 and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies until assuming the appointment of Director General of the UK’s Defence Supply Chain in Aug 00.
In Oct 02 he became involved in the planning for operations in Iraq (Op Telic) and subsequently deployed to Washington, Kuwait and Baghdad as the Deputy in the US led Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs, later re-titled as the Coalition Provisional Authority. He returned in Jul 03, and was subsequently appointed GOC Theatre Troops in Oct 2004 before retiring from the British Army in Jan 2007.
Tim has been married to Christine since 1972 and they have 3 children; Alexander, a Lt Cdr in the Royal Navy, Gemma married to his last ADC, and Stephen, at College in Farnborough; he also has three grandchildren, Daniel, Harry and Katie. A licensed lay reader in the Church of England he is a Trustee of the British and Foreign Bible Society and is engaged with a number of Christian and secular organisation, including HISG and another International NGO’s. He is a Visiting Professor at 3 UK Universities and Defence Adviser to a number of UK/International Companies, including the UK House of Commons Defence Committee. His hobbies include golf, sailing, walking and reading/writing, having had a number of articles and book chapters published.
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