NEW YORK — Deirdre Latour, the former GE CCO who left the company in March after 14 years, has landed a new position as Pearson’s chief corporate affairs officer.

Latour will formally join the educational tech company Jan. 1, and will be based out of Pearson’s Hoboken, N.J. office. She replaces Kate James, who stepped down from the role in August after more than four years.

Latour will lead the team responsible for the company’s global corporate affairs, including government relations, media and investor relations, employee communications and brand and social impact.

In announcing her appointment, CEO John Fallon said Latour also will work with him, as well as other department leaders, on establishing whether some of the divisions under corporate affairs and marketing —  research and insights and digital channels and experience — would be better off being more closely aligned with other parts of the company.

“Deirdre’s undoubted experience and expertise is matched by her energy, sense of purpose, and commitment to empowering and mentoring talent. Deirdre is a very worthy successor to Kate James, and I’m confident she will help us build on all the progress we’ve made across global corporate affairs and marketing over the last few years,” Fallon said in a memo.

Known for her direct approach to communications, Latour while at GE led the company’s communications during a time of immense change, creating and executing the strategic initiatives around the corporation’s evolution into a digital industrial company. She also led the communications efforts for the CEO succession process and built a stronger global external relations capacity around the world, GE said.