Former Great Britain hockey international Stephen Taylor has been elected as the new Worcestershire chairman.
The 54-year-old, who has been on the club’s board for four years, replaces Martyn Price following the end of his maximum eight-year term.
Former Worcestershire captain and England opening batsman Tim Curtis has been elected the new vice-chairman.
"I'm very proud to be chairman of this great club,” Taylor said.
“I've lived in Worcestershire all my life, done all my business in Worcestershire so the area means a massive amount to me.
“I've always loved watching cricket. Our local business, which was Taylors of Martley Logistics, had a box at New Road and I've been watching cricket here for over 25 years.”
Taylor, who won more than 50 international hockey caps as a goalkeeper, will look at "commercially maximising" the club’s potential to offer the funds to help establish Worcestershire in the LV= County Championship top flight following promotion last summer.
"The club has now got a solid platform to develop forward, one on the cricket side which is brilliant, and two as a business,” he said.
"We want to offer more and more commercial activities at the club, not just in the cricket season but also outside of that, and to commercially maximise what we can make out of the facilities in order to re-invest wisely in cricket and facilities going forward.
"We want to be able to spend more money on cricket for the future.
"The ultimate aim is to have a first-class cricket team that is established in Division One. It would be great to win a trophy of some sort in the near future.
"I know Steve (Rhodes) well from his playing days and more recently I've met him and seen him perform as the director of cricket and I've been very impressed.
“I think there is a really good culture at the club and a solid base to work from as the 2014 season has shown.
"The academy route has been very successful and I don't see any reason why we should stop developing our own players. The more the merrier and, dovetailed with the right overseas players, should all stand us in good stead for the future.”