Move it, move it: Karla Leach will bring more than five years of Australian automotive industry experience to her new role at Nissan, including two-and-a-half years as Mazda Australia senior manager of public relations.

NISSAN Motor Company Australia has announced that Karla Leach, formerly Mazda Australia’s senior manager of public relations, will take the role of general manager of corporate communications.

Ms Leach was appointed to the role after Nissan’s previous corporate communications general manager, Peter Fadeyev, was promoted to the role of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) general manager of product communications early last month.

Bringing over five years of Australian automotive industry experience to the role, Ms Leach spent two-and-a-half years as Mazda Australia’s PR boss, while she also served as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Australia director of corporate affairs from February 2013 to November 2014.

She also held the role of senior manager of retail marketing and dealer activation for 13 months beforehand at the same company.

Prior to joining the automotive industry, Ms Leach fulfilled various marketing and executive roles at companies including Telstra, Sensis and Singleton Ogilvy & Mather.

Ms Leach will join Nissan’s PR team working side-by-side with corporate communications coordinator Colette Dunn and a yet-to-be-determined product communications manager from May 22.

Mazda Australia is yet to announce who will replace Ms Leach as senior manager of public relations.

By Tung Nguyen