The National Trust’s deputy chairman, Sir Laurie Magnus, has been appointed chairman of English Heritage by the Culture Secretary to take the lead on setting up a new heritage charity.

Magnus, who has been a National Trust board member since 2003, takes up the new role in September and will step down from his post at the National Trust shortly afterwards.

In June’s spending announcement the government revealed that it had set aside £80m for English Heritage to set up a new charity to care for historic properties in the National Heritage Collection by 2015. English Heritage is currently a non-departmental public body, and the government intends for the new charity to become self-financing.

Magnus takes over from Baroness Kay Andrews who has held the post since 2009 and is stepping down at the end of her four-year term.

Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, said: “Sir Laurie’s long and distinguished career in finance, coupled with his passion for - and experience of – the heritage world, make him an ideal choice to carry this work forward.”

He has more than 30 years of corporate finance advisory experience and is currently deputy chairman at the investment banking advisory firm Evercore Partners. Previous employers include HSBC Investment Bank, the Phoenix Partnership, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Inc, and Credit Suisse First Boston. He also holds a number of non-executive directorships and finance companies.

Additional voluntary sector roles include being chair at the Eating Disorders Association, deputy chairman of the Windsor Leadership Trust and trustee of the Barbican Centre Development Board.