Robert Nardelli, the former head of Chrysler LLC, will lead a unit of Cerberus Capital Management LP that oversees the management and operations of companies owned by the buyout firm.

Nardelli will be chief executive officer of Cerberus Operating and Advisory Company LLC, according to a statement today from the New York-based firm. He will also be on its investment and valuation committees.

Nardelli, 61, first joined Cerberus after his ouster as CEO of Home Depot Inc. in January 2007. The private-equity firm named him CEO of Chrysler after buying the carmaker that August. After one of the worst sales slumps in decades helped to push Chrysler into bankruptcy this April, Nardelli said he would return to Cerberus.

While at the automaker, Nardelli canceled four of its 25 models and trimmed the work force to about 54,000 from more than 71,000 at the end of 2007 as the recession dried up demand.