OREANDA-NEWS. Following the appointment of Andreas Bartels as Head of the Group's newly merged press offices - including that of Lufthansa German Airlines - the Group is now announcing the appointees to the other positions within the Communications team of Barbara Schädler. Matthias Eberle is to become Head of Internal Communications. Christoph Meier will lead the new Communications Strategy, Planning & Operations department, and Susanne Kotysch has been named Head of the new Corporate Social Responsibility & Event Management department.

The Lufthansa Group is concluding the reorganization of its Group Communications. Following the appointment of Andreas Bartels (44) as Head of Media Relations at the Lufthansa Group, the management team under Barbara Schädler, Head of Group Communications, is now complete. “I am delighted to further improve the communication with our external and internal stakeholders together with the new team of department heads and all of the Lufthansa Group's communications staff. We will become more strategic, more integrated and more proactive in our communication - and do this across all communication channels and formats,” explained Barbara Schädler.

Matthias Eberle (46) will head up the internal communications of the Lufthansa Group, including its core business segment Lufthansa German Airlines, from 15 September. The former business journalist, New York correspondent and senior foreign affairs reporter at the German daily Handelsblatt has been responsible for freight subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo AG's corporate communications since 2012. In the new role, Eberle is to develop a culture of dialogue across the Group, and will further expand the use of digital, mobile and audiovisual media for communications with the some 118,000 Lufthansa Group staff.

Christoph Meier (41) is to assume the position as Head of the new Communications Strategy, Planning & Operations department, with retroactive effect as of 1 August 2014. In this role, he will be responsible for developing an integrated, Group-wide communications strategy and planning, as well as developing and implementing a performance measurement for communications. This department will also provide operational communications services.

Over the past almost three years, Meier was in charge of Lufthansa's Group Media Relations department. The business economist began in Route Network Planning at Swiss, where he later assumed responsibility for Financial Communications and Internal Communications. From 2009 until 2011, he was Lufthansa's Head of Media Relations Middle East & Africa, in Dubai, UAE.

Susanne Kotysch (47) is to become Head of the new Corporate Social Responsibility & Event Management department, also with effect from 1 August 2014. She will take responsibility for the further development and implementation of the future CSR strategy, including Corporate Citizenship, as well as continuing to develop the Lufthansa Group's event management. Over the last few years, Kotysch headed up the Lufthansa Group's Protocol and Event Management team, having previously been Head of Public Relations. Between 1993 and 2000, she worked in various positions at Group subsidiary Eurowings, including spending five years as Head of Corporate Communications and spokesperson and, prior to that, two years as Head of Product Management.