She will take over from Michael Ankers who retires at the Association’s AGM in April.
Dr Montgomery is currently the deputy chief executive at the Chemical Industries Association.
She graduated from Oxford University with a chemistry degree and was subsequently awarded a doctorate for her work on environment and waste resources at the Imperial College, London.
Before joining the CIA in 2006 she was group head of environment at Centrica, and prior to that worked with the Automobile Association and Johnson Wax.
CPA chairman, Bill Bolsover, said: “Diana brings a wealth of relevant experience to this role and we look forward to her leading the association and taking forward the strategic development programme that we developed last year.”