The Royal Shakespeare Company has appointed Catherine Mallyon as its new executive director, to succeed Vikki Heywood. She will join new artistic director Gregory Doran, whose appointment was announced in March. Mallyon is currently deputy chief excecutive at the Southbank Centre in London, and she, and Doran, will take the reins at the RSC AGM on 14 September 2012.

As regime changes go, this is a significant one. Heywood, along with departing supremo Michael Boyd, have worked tirelessly togther since 2004 to solve the organisation's deficit and repair morale after the disasterous rule of Boyd's predecessor Adrian Noble. They have created huge-scale projects such as the impressive Complete Works Festival, and overseen the refurbishment of the Stratford-upon-Avon base.

So they are handing on a company that has never felt more confident, nor more solid. Mallyon brings her experience of working on the Southbank's reopening after its refurb in 2007 and the relaunch of the Hayward Gallery two years ago. She was previously general manager of Reading Arts and Theatres. Perhaps her knowledge of a broad range of arts projects will help Doran mend the one weak spot of the current RSC: its poor record of new writing.