NEW YORK—WPP has added two senior professionals to its dedicated Ford communications team, with automotive PR veteran Chris Preuss joining Hill & Knowlton as executive vice president and Sue Carney joining WPP as communications director, based with the Ford team in Dearborn.

Preuss will be dedicated to Ford communications and will be the senior WPP leader partnering with the company on its global product communications plans, programs and storytelling.He will be based with the Ford team in Dearborn and will work alongside Paul Harrison, director, global product communications, and with product communications teams in North America and around the world.

Preuss was previously General Motors’ vice president of global communications and president of GM’s OnStar telematics subsidiary during 2009 and 2010. He led communications during GM’s bankruptcy, global restructuring, launch of the Volt and social media efforts. Prior to those roles, Preuss was vice president of GM Europe Communications, based in Zürich, Switzerland and had experience on the agency side with GolinHarris, Manning Salvage & Lee, and Campbell & Company.

Carney will lead Ford’s enterprise story process, working closely with product, pillar and channel leaders at the company to aggressively communicate the company’s plan and progress proof points to all stakeholders.

She joins from The Detroit News, where she has served as business editor for the past four years and managed the paper’s team of reporters, editors and columnists covering all aspects of business and economics in Detroit and Michigan, with a particular focus on the US auto industry. Before joining The News in 2001, she worked as a reporter at Automotive News.