Michael Luger is the new chairman of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

The Pennsylvania-born 64-year-old takes over on May 1 from Colin Millar, who is standing down after eight years.

Mr Luger served as Dean of Manchester Business School for seven years, retiring from the post last December.

Before that he was a professor of public policy, business and planning at the University of North Carolina and taught economics at Duke University and the University of Maryland.

“I am honoured to have been selected as chairman of the NHS foundation trust,” he said.

“I was aware of Airedale’s reputation as a top-performing trust and its collaborative culture – I will have a strong base to build on, with good people in place and a supportive community.

“We all owe Colin Millar a vote of gratitude for what he has accomplished but I appreciate also that there are major challenges across the sector.

“I promise to do my best to help Airedale continue to meet the health care needs in its catchment area.”

Mr Millar said he was privileged to have served as chairman. “It is with sadness that I come to the end of my term of office,” he said. “Airedale is a first-rate hospital.

“In the past eight years much has changed and yet the best features of the trust have, happily, remained largely unchanged – the quality of the people, the energy of the place, the genuine concern for patients and the high standards of care.

“I have every confidence that those characteristics will continue to be true of Airedale for many years to come.”