The Board of the Royal National Theatre has announced that Nick Starr has been appointed to succeed Genista McIntosh as Executive Director of the National later this year.

Nick Starr paid tribute to Trevor Nunn and said how much he was looking forward to working with Nicholas Hytner - "The National is a unique institution - there is a genius to the place."

Starr is an inside appointment - like Nicholas Hytner in the top job he has a long association with the company. He joined the National's press office in 1987, became the National's Assistant Producer in 1991 and then its Head of Planning, under Sir Richard Eyre.

In 1996 he took up the post of Director of Warwick Arts Centre, and the following year joined the Almeida as Executive Director, working alongside Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid to broaden the company's scope with touring, seasons in the West End, the Malvern Festival and the conversion of Gainsborough Studios for "Shakespeare in Shoreditch." He left in February 2001 after securing the company in its temporary theatres in King Cross. He also serves on the board of the Young Vic and BAC.

The position of executive director of the National is crucial to the efficient running of the vast organization, and with his breadth of experience and inside knowledge of how the National works, Nick Starr is ideally qualified to help Nicholas Hytner make a success of Britain's most prestigious theatre company. —by Paul Webb Theatrenow