Geoff Armstrong to Retire from Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in June 2008

London — April 11
Geoff Armstrong has announced his intention to retire as director general of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in June 2008, at the end of the institute’s 2007-08 financial year.

By June 2008, Armstrong will have held the post for 16 years. His tenure has seen the institute go from strength to strength.

Membership has more than doubled — the CIPD now has nearly 130,000 members, and 47,000 of them are full chartered members.

Over this time, the CIPD has led in setting the agenda in people management and development and in demonstrating the central role of people management in business success.

“It has been a great honor to lead the CIPD since 1992, bBut the time has come to begin the search for my successor," Armstrong said. "We have a strong management team in place and an effective board and governance structure. I will continue to work alongside them to achieve our strategic objectives and to hand over to my successor.

“One of our priorities in my time here has been to ensure that the contribution good people management and development makes is understood and recognised. At the CIPD, we strive to develop and promote the evidence base that shows HR is worth doing and how to do it well. We highlight the systematically learnable nature of the body of evidence that all organizations can use to deliver sustainable competitive advantage, and we constantly develop and update our professional standards as the expression of what it takes to be an effective professional proficient in using this body of knowledge to the benefit of the organizations with which our members work."

The search for a new director general will be led by CIPD President Vicky Wright, and the remuneration committee on behalf of the board.

“Under Geoff Armstrong’s leadership of the CIPD, the profession has grown in confidence and stature," Wright said. "He’s attracted more members, and he established the institute on the sound financial footing that enabled it to focus so effectively on strategic priorities, research and supporting and adding value for the membership. I and the board will be working to identify a suitable successor, equipped to offer the same innovation, vision and dynamism as Geoff has brought to the role.”