McGourty has been in her present role, overseeing public affairs and media and comms in the UK and Ireland, since January this year. Prior to this, she was director of corporate affairs at British Gas, before its corporate affairs team merged into Centrica's, following a 2015 strategic review of the business which concluded that it needed a greater focus on customers.
She had joined British Gas in 2015 from trade body Energy UK, before which she was a BBC News correspondent.
McGourty will become chief corporate affairs director at Laird, which manufactures and design products that protect electronic systems and infrastructure, in March 2017.
Laird CEO Tony Quinlan said: "Christine brings a wealth of experience across all aspects of corporate affairs, and I'm delighted she'll be joining Laird. Her background in science and technology makes her a perfect fit for our business."
The firm has 8,500 staff across 21 countries, and recorded total revenue of £630.4m in 2015.
McGourty takes a newly created role on the company's executive team, and will oversee marketing, communications, government affairs and corporate social responsibility.
It is not known when Centrica will move to appoint a successor to McGourty, whose duties are currently being shared across the team.
