Clements, the group HR director at Carillion, will take up the CIPD post in September.
She has 29 years of experience in HR, change management and consulting, including stints at Whitbread, Anglian Water, Care UK and PwC.
"[Clements] brings the skills, the experience and the passion to position the CIPD and the profession we represent, at the heart of the debate about the future of work, the changing nature of workforces and the culture and organisation of our workplaces," CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese said.
"She has the enthusiasm and the drive to help us translate our ambition into practical support that delivers real, meaningful change and benefits for individuals, for organisations, and for the economies and society in which we all live."
Clements holds an MBA from the London Business School and a degree from Cambridge University.
"For me, as for so many other HR and learning and development professionals, the CIPD has been an important source of information and support in my career," Clements said.
"[The CIPD] encapsulates our key role in answering the questions that are at the top of CEOs' agendas today – on culture, on skills, on the very future of work, HR should be the unquestioned place our leaders expect to turn to for answers."
