Nancy Rae has been named executive vice president of human resources and communications. She had been senior vice president of human resources and communications. The corporate communications department had been reporting to Rae since Jason Vines, former vice president of communications, left the automaker in December.

In other changes the company announced:

• John Franciosi senior vice president of employee relations and a veteran labor negotiator, is retiring September 30 after 31 years with Chrysler.

• Al Iacobelli, vice president of human resources, who formerly reported to Franciosi, will now report to Rae.

• Lori McTavish has been named executive director of communications.

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli praised Rae. “With more than 30 years of company experience, she is a true leader in transformational change,” he said.

General Holiefield, UAW vice president, said of Franciosi: “We have appreciated our working relationship with John and his contributions to Chrysler.”

Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, said Franciosi was “a very decent man” but a challenging negotiator who understood the importance of workers. “I enjoyed working with him.”

The changes were effective Tuesday, July 2.

Filed by Bradford Wernle of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.