AUBURN HILLS, MI: With Jason Vines, communications VP at Chrysler LLC resigning last week, the carmaker announced it would be realigning its corporate communications department.
As part of the realignment, David Barnas, the new head of internal and corporate communications and six-year veteran of the corporate communications department, will now report to Nancy Rae, SVP of HR.
"If you look at the changes going on within our company, we need to be nimble and fast," said Barnas. "There's a significant cultural change, so the realignment from a corporate and internal communications standpoint with [HR] is a smart one because we're going to be leaders in driving that change."
Chrysler had been contemplating changes in the summer when, shortly after Robert Nardelli was named chairman and CEO, Vines retained Robert Marston & Associates to act as its external corporate communications consultant. Nardelli worked with the firm when he ran Home Depot.
Robert Marston, chairman and CEO of the agency, said his agency will focus its efforts on working with the business media to convey the business side of Chrysler's turnaround story.
"It's a story about management, private equity, and leadership," Marston said. "And there are [outlets] that aren't as interested in the [product] as much as they are the business strategy."
