Costa Group has Achim Bahnen as vice president, head of communications and public affairs, a newly created position, the company announced.

In this role, he will oversee all corporate communications and public affairs activities of Costa Group coordinating with its brands Costa Crociere, AIDA Cruises, and Costa Asia. He reports directly to Michael Thamm, Group CEO Costa Group & Carnival Asia.

“Achim Bahnen brings very broad and high-level experience in communications to our leadership team”, said Michael Thamm. “In this new role he will strengthen our strategic communications planning and stakeholder relationships in order to support the further expansion of our business. I congratulate Achim on joining Costa Group and look forward to closely working with him.”

Achim Bahnen started his career as a journalist at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and was head of division at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and held leading positions at SAP and Merck KGaA. Most recently he worked as an independent communications consultant.