FRANKFURT: Gabriele Velte, who quit as communications director of
Lufthansa in July after just six months, has joined Burson-Marsteller as
chief of corporate communications for Germany.
Velte will be responsible for all corporate communications in Germany
and becomes part of the B-M management team. She will report to European
chairman for communications, Per Heggenes, and will oversee a team of
12.
The post was made vacant by the departure of Christian Kroos to Citibank
in the summer. It had been filled by director Michael Rust until Velte’s
appointment.
Harel Seidenwerg, MD of Burson-Marsteller in Germany, commented that
Velte preferred working for a PR agency: ’She learnt that working in a
company was totally different from a PR agency and she is a PR
person.’
Prior to Lufthansa, Velte helped to build up Germany’s largest PR
agency, Kohtes and Klewes where she was a managing partner and headed
the Frankfurt office.
Velte’s appointment comes as Burson-Marsteller aims to expand worldwide,
with Germany being a major focus.
