Mr John Fenwick has joined from the Northumbria Probation Service, where he was director of finance, ICT and performance for the past five years.

At Nexus Mr Fenwick's portfolio of responsibilities will include finance, legal, human resources, information technology, audit and governance and the secretariat functions.

He replaces Shirley Atkinson who left Nexus earlier this year to become deputy vice chancellor of Sunderland University.

Mr Fenwick, 39, said: "I'm joining Nexus at a really exciting time following the announcement from the Government of £300m for Metro Re-invigoration Phase 2.

"That commitment from Government will give us the kind of financial stability that we haven't had in the past.

"We now have an excellent opportunity to build a really bright future for the Metro system."

He added: "I have a much wider brief in this job and a much a bigger budget to take care of. Clearly, Metro Re-invigoration adds another dimension and I'm really looking forward to getting started."

Mr Fenwick, 39, who is from Low Fell in Gateshead, is married and has a two-year old son.