Ceridian’s strategy director, Penny de Valk has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

Taking on the role in October, de Vaulk will be responsible for the performance of ILM and will join the board of its parent group City & Guilds.

She was formerly the chief executive of New Zealand’s Institute of Management in Auckland for four years before joining Ceridian in the UK ten years ago. She has also held two non–executive director positions with listed companies and worked in the fields of professional services, retail, insurance, publishing and management development.

De Vaulk was instrumental in making Ceridian the first organisation in the UK to offer a fully integrated EAP and work/life service. She was promoted to strategy director in 2005, with responsibility for planning and strategy development and the on-going build of Human Capital capability business through partnerships, alliances and acquisitions.

Of her new role De Vaulk said: “I am delighted to be joining ILM and look forward to contributing to the on-going success of the organisation and its critical purpose of developing leadership and management capability.’

Chris Humphries, director general of City & Guilds stated: “Penny’s track record in leadership and applying leading edge HR interventions into deriving true business benefit makes her an excellent candidate to lead ILM into the future. She will be a great asset to ILM and the rest of the City & Guilds Group.”