At age 16, Michael Cox began his career in the fire service at the Woodland Beach Volunteer Fire Department in Edgewater, Maryland where he remains a life member. At age 20, Michael Cox accepted a career position within the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. Throughout his 27-year career, Michael Cox worked in virtually every bureau and division in the department. Michael Cox ultimately advanced through the ranks to become the department’s tenth Fire Chief where he led a combination force of more than 1,400 career and volunteer personnel serving a population of more than 550,000.

During his time as Anne Arundel County Fire Chief, Michael Cox worked on numerous new initiatives to address critical issues facing the department, including the enhancement of responder and citizen safety, the correction of substandard insurance service office ratings in multiple areas of Anne Arundel County, the improvement of 911 call processing times and work flows, the development of a diversity recruitment plan, and the enhancement of communications with volunteer and career associations and groups within the department.

Michael Cox earned an associate’s degree in emergency medical services from Anne Arundel Community College, a bachelor’s degree in fire science from the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus), and a master’s degree in executive fire service leadership from Grand Canyon University. Michael Cox also is a graduate of the United States Fire Administration’s Executive Fire Officer Program and has been designated as a Chief Fire Officer from the Center for Public Safety Excellence. Additionally, Cox holds national and state certifications as a fire officer, an emergency medical technician paramedic and an emergency services instructor. And lastly he is a graduate of the Leadership Anne Arundel’s 2015 Flagship Program and Leadership Maryland Class of 2017.

Michael Cox has been a resident of Anne Arundel County for the last 36 years and currently resides in Edgewater with his daughter Megan and his son Michael.