The 50-year-old Dutchman replaces Alan Chamberlain, who stood down from his position on medical grounds.

Verhaas made history in 2003 when he became the first non-British snooker referee to officiate the World Championship Final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

He has refereed the showpiece event a further four more times in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013 and has also taken charge of four UK Championship and eight Masters finals.

As part of his position on the board, Verhaas will be tasked with helping develop junior referees and tournament officials in the sport.

"I am extremely excited to be joining the WPBSA and would like to thank the members for the support that I have received already," Verhaas said.

"Snooker has been my life since I first began refereeing over 25 years ago, but I am as enthusiastic as ever about the sport and have all of the energy in the world to get on with the tasks ahead of me in this new position.

"In particular, it is an honour for me to succeed Alan Chamberlain, who played a key role in the sport for so many years and was an inspiration to me and so many others when I joined the game.

"He leaves a big pair of shoes to fill, but I look forward to the challenge and cannot wait to get started."

Six-time world champion Steve Davis was also re-elected onto the Board during the meeting.

An application was made by snooker's world governing body to be included at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but it failed to make the shortlist.