WPP has discovered a brand new chief government officer in Microsoft exec, Cindy Rose.
Rose will take over from outgoing CEO Mark Learn, efficient Sept. 1, 2025.
Learn, who beforehand said he would go away in December, will work together with his successor to assist the transition till the tip of the yr.
Rose has a background in tech and AI management, most just lately at Microsoft, the place she has been chief working officer for international enterprise since 2023.
Earlier than that, she was president of Microsoft Western Europe and CEO of Microsoft UK.
Her earlier roles embrace managing director of the U.Okay. client enterprise at Vodafone and government director of digital leisure and media Gross sales at Virgin Media. She additionally spent 15 years at The Walt Disney Firm, finally as senior vp, and managing director of Disney Interactive Media Group, EMEA.
Rose has been a non-executive director on the WPP Board since 2019.
“WPP is an organization I do know and love—not solely from my six years on the board however as a consumer and accomplice for a few years earlier than that—and I couldn’t be happier or extra excited to be appointed as CEO. I started my profession within the artistic industries, and this seems like coming house,” she mentioned in a press release.
“There are such a lot of alternatives forward for WPP. We have now and proceed to construct market-leading AI capabilities, alongside an unrivalled status for artistic excellence and a preeminent consumer checklist. WPP has probably the most good, gifted, artistic individuals, and I can’t wait to jot down the corporate’s subsequent chapter collectively,” she continued.
“I’m grateful to Mark for his many contributions to the enterprise over time, and I look ahead to working collectively to make sure a easy handover.”
The CEO problem
Rose joins WPP after a bumpy first half of 2025 for WPP, marked by consumer losses from large manufacturers together with Mars, redundancies, restructuring, and a disastrous return-to-office (RTO) mandate rollout.
On Wednesday (July 9), WPP issued a shock revenue warning in an unscheduled H1 replace, with Learn slashing the corporate’s outlook for 2025, with income is projected to fall 3% to five%.
Amid WPP’s challenges, Learn has been upping funding in WPP’s AI and information capabilities, buying information clear room platform InfoSum and investing £300 million ($408 million) yearly on proprietary AI instrument WPP Open.
Philip Jansen, Chair of WPP, mentioned in a press release: “Cindy has supported the digital transformation of huge enterprises all over the world—together with embracing AI to create new buyer experiences, enterprise fashions, and income streams. Her experience on this panorama shall be vastly helpful to WPP because the trade navigates basic modifications and macroeconomic uncertainty.”
He mentioned each exterior and inner candidates had been thought-about for the function.
“Having labored carefully with Cindy for the final six years, I’m delighted to see her appointed as CEO of WPP,” Learn mentioned. “From her time on the board, she has actual perception into our enterprise and is aware of lots of our purchasers, individuals, and companions all over the world.
“She brings deep expertise of know-how and AI and its transformational impression on enterprise, and has efficiently run massive international organisations with expertise at their core. After seven years as CEO, I do know that I’m leaving WPP in wonderful arms.”
