Mike McTighe, the chairman of Telegraph Media Group, has been appointed chairman of the new Men’s Professional Rugby Board, taking up his role with immediate effect.

The board was created as part of the new Men’s Professional Game Partnership, a landmark deal the Rugby Football Union hopes will reshape the future of English rugby. The deal, worth more than £264 million to England’s leading clubs over the next eight years, also includes the introduction of enhanced elite player squad contracts, of which 17 have been handed out already.

McTighe said: “It’s my privilege to be taking on this role at such an important time for English rugby. The enthusiasm from all quarters to reshape the men’s game is palpable. I look forward to getting to know better all the stakeholders in the coming days and weeks.”

The deal, announced in September, will also overhaul the management of players, with England head coach Steve Borthwick and his coaching team able to lay out long-term strength and conditioning and skill development programmes. They will also have a final say in medical decisions as part of a new integrated approach.

McTighe is chairman of Openreach Ltd, Together Financial Services Ltd and IG Group plc, having spent most of his executive career at Cable and Wireless, Philips, Motorola and GE.

Two independent non-executive directors (INED) have also joined the board, in Rachel Baillache and Ged Roddy. Baillache is a qualified accountant and was a member of KPMG’s global executive for nine years, and is the senior independent director at the Lawn Tennis Association and chair of its audit committee. She also serves as a member of the committee of management for the Wimbledon Championships and is a member of the UK Sport board.

Roddy was a member of the executive board of the Premier League and on the UK Sport board, and has held senior leadership positions and non-executive board roles with the LTA, Sport England, UK Sport, the English Institute of Sport, Sports Coach UK and Fifa.

Along with the chair and INED positions, the RFU and Premiership Rugby each has three voting members – Wayne Barnes (senior RFU representative and RFU board member), Bill Sweeney (RFU chief executive and RFU board member), Conor O’Shea (RFU executive director of performance rugby), Simon Massie-Taylor (Premiership Rugby chief executive), Nigel Melville (chairman of the Premiership Rugby investor board) and Chris Booy (chairman of Bristol Bears).

The Rugby Players Association has two seats on the board (one voting and one observer) – Christian Day (general secretary) and Judith Batchelar (chair of the management board).