MULTI-MILLIONAIRE former Just Eat boss David Buttress has been appointed as the new chairman of the Dragons after taking a minority stake in the Rodney Parade region.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur from Cwmbran has been selected by the Welsh Rugby Union, who took control of the Dragons in the summer.

The non-executive chairman will now appoint a board of directors that will be five or six strong and feature a representative from the governing body.

Buttress is from Cwmbran and made his name as chief executive of Just Eat, helping start the takeaway food delivery company in 2006 before leaving his role earlier this year.

The former Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School pupil banked nearly £5million from selling some of his shares in the company this summer after netting £12.5million from a similar move in 2006.

Buttress, who is currently a member of joint venture capital firm 83North, has invested financially in the Dragons and will now spearhead the region’s development from the boardroom.

“What I will be is someone as committed and passionate as the supporters about the team and wanting them to be successful,” said Buttress, a scrum-half in his youth with Croesyceiliog.

“I will be someone who listens and engages with them and will want to know about their experiences around the club. I am definitely open to hearing their ideas, that’s for sure.

“They can also expect transparency from me about what is going to happen. I will be open about the things that need to get changed and need to improve.

“I won’t gloss over things, that’s not my style as an entrepreneur. It’s important to face challenges, talk about them and then agree what we are going to do about it.

“I have one thing underpinning it – I want the Dragons to be the best they can be, that’s it.”

Buttress is charged with bringing energy to the Dragons board and increasing their revenue streams to enable head coach Bernard Jackman’s budget to increase.

“Over the coming weeks and months Stuart [Davies, chief executive], me and the team will sit down and go through what we think are the big opportunities and prioritise them accordingly,” he said.

“There are always 20 or 30 things you can do with any business but the really great business get down to the four or five that are really going to drive change and make big improvements.

“I am definitely impatient to get started because we want to be driving as much improvement as we can, as quick as we can because we all want the Dragons to be as successful off the field commercially as they possibly can, which will hopefully enable us to be more successful on the pitch.”

WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips wants Buttress to play a leading role in the quartet of the Dragons, Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys working together more closely in business terms.

“We are delighted to be able to welcome a businessman of the calibre of David Buttress to Welsh rugby,” said former B&Q chief Phillips.

“His reputation and his achievements in the business world are there for everyone to see and he will make an impact at the Dragons which will not only benefit the region itself and all the clubs within it, but that will produce be a ripple effect throughout Welsh rugby.

“We really have got everything we could have wished for in an international businessman and entrepreneur who has been there and done that in the business world, but who is Cwmbran born and bred and who has a real passion for rugby in Gwent.”