Chris Pilling, the former chief executive of the First Direct, has been tasked with overseeing the preparations ahead of Yorkshire hosting the 2019 UCI World Road Championships.

Pilling will be chair of Yorkshire 2019 as one of five independent directors, joined by Paul Williamson, Denise Jagger, Malgorzata Grzyb and Dee Paterson.

As well as his stint at First Direct, Pilling was also CEO at the Yorkshire Building Society and a senior executive with HSBC, British Airways and Asda.

He has been described as a “keen cyclist” and is a resident of Harrogate in the north of the county.

Yorkshire won the right to host the event in October 2016 after it enticed four million people to the streets to watch the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014.

Pilling said he was “honoured and privileged” to be appointed.

“Yorkshire has shown it can successfully host world-class events so I’m fully confident we will stage a fantastic nine-day World Championships in 2019 that will do the county and the UK proud,” he added.

UK Sport’s chief operating officer Simon Morton said Pilling had the “leadership and experience required” to oversee the event organisation.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity, British Cycling’s Jonny Clay, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Nick Pontefract, Richard Flinton of North Yorkshire County Council and UK Sport’s Morton are also part of the Yorkshire 2019 board.

Two further additions are expected to be made in the near future.