TransAlta Corp. is appointing former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose to the power company's board of directors.

The long-time Edmonton MP was interim leader of the federal party and leader of the Opposition from 2015 until 2017.

Ambrose was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and officially resigned her seat earlier this month.

She was appointed to cabinet after former prime minister Stephen Harper secured a minority government in the 2006 campaign.

She would go on to hold eight different cabinet posts in the Harper government, including as minister of Environment, Health and Public Works, before the Conservatives were defeated in October 2015.

She is currently a fellow at the Wilson Centre Canada Institute in Washington, D.C., focusing on key Canada-U.S. bilateral trade and competitiveness issues.