HANOVER — Continental has hired Silke Bernhardt into the newly-created position of head of communications and public affairs of its tyres business.

Bernhardt joins the German multinational from fibre-optic cable network operator Tele Columbus, where she was director of corporate communications. Before that, she was global director of corporate communications at Leica Camera, having spent the previous nine years heading up PR for the consumer electronics sector of Sony Deutschland.

In her new role, she will be responsible for the strategic direction of internal and external communications and manages the worldwide communications units in the regions Asia, North and South America, and Europe.

Bernhardt reports to Christian Kötz, head of the tires business and member of Continental’s executive board. He said: “With this newly-created position, we are aiming to respond to the ever-changing requirements facing our communications activities.

“This will include generating even greater transparency and more digital services for the media and the public. In particular, we will be looking to reflect our efforts to embed sustainability into our entire value chain and our products even more prominently in our communications.”