The merger of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Thinktank has been further cemented with the creation of a new board to run the Birmingham Museums Trust.

Len Clark has been appointed interim chairman of the trust and will continue the search for a long-term appointment. As chairman of Thinktank since 2004 he led the steering group which oversaw the merger of the two museums and creation of the trust.

More than 60 people applied to join the trust with appointed.

They are: museum director Ann Sumner; city council appointee Coun Muhammed Afzal; former head of Birmingham museums service Graham Allen; Lady Penelope Cobham, who has been chairman of VisitEngland since 2009; Deborah de Haes the current chairwoman of the Friends of Birmingham Museums; former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum Sir Mark Jones; company chairman and art collector David Lewis; Time Team and Coast presenter Prof Alice Roberts, who is Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham; and Jan Teo the Birmingham based director of Deutsche Bank.

Prof Sumner said: “The board’s breadth of experience and expertise will be instrumental in forging the future of the new trust.

"The assembled expertise covers the arts, science, culture, business and museums, and will be invaluable to us. I look forward to working with them all at this exciting time.”