HM Courts and Tribunals Service has turned to the private sector for a new chief executive.

Natalie Ceeney, currently head of customer standards at HSBC UK, will join the service on 5 January 2015, replacing Peter Handcock who will be retiring after five years in the position and more than 30 years in the organisation.

Cambridge graduate Ceeney, 43, began her career in the NHS before moving to management consultancy McKinsey and then to the British Library. As chief executive of National Archives in the 2000s she gained a reputation for driving through change in the face of institutional resistance. In her Twitter signature, she says she is ‘passionate about making a difference’.

In a statement today, HMCTS said Ceeney’s appointment has been welcomed by Chris Grayling, the lord chancellor; Lord Thomas, the lord chief justice; Jeremy Sullivan, the senior president of tribunals; Robert Ayling, chairman of HMCTS and Ursula Brennan, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice.