Karen Blackett is the primary particular person to be made president of WPP within the UK, persevering with her regular rise on the group the place she’s labored for almost 20 years.
Blackett is a giant expertise and an enormous asset to WPP because of her standing within the UK enterprise neighborhood, her MBE, her consumer expertise and her stance on variety. She has been promoted commonly since she began work at WPP in 2004 and her subsequent cease is unquestionably world.
Her promotion follows the current appointment of Rose Herceg and Michael Houston to president roles in Australia & New Zealand and the US respectively. A alternative for Blackett’s position as UK CEO of GroupM will likely be introduced quickly, however the UK nation supervisor position will not exist.
Blackett began her profession at CIA MediaNetwork within the early 90s, and her WPP profession started when the group purchased MediaCom (the place she was advertising and marketing director) in 2004. She was made chair of the company in 2016, grew to become WPP nation supervisor in 2018, and added the GroupM UK CEO title in 2020.
Blackett stated: “I took on the GroupM position within the first week of lockdown in 2020, with a give attention to guiding the enterprise via the pandemic and starting the transformation of GroupM within the UK. We’ve made large progress and achieved a lot in these two and a half years and I’m delighted to have the ability to hand the baton to a brand new chief with the organisation in good well being. The UK is such an vital marketplace for WPP, with so many improbable individuals, purchasers and companions, and I’m wanting ahead to having the ability to dedicate all of my time and a focus to the nation management position.”
The transfer is offered as a approach to simplify WPP’s operations within the UK, which is the group’s second largest territory after the US, with advert revenues of $2bn and a workers of 12,000.
Mark Learn, CEO of WPP, stated: “As we carry our companies collectively in our new campuses and ship more and more built-in providers for our purchasers, the size and significance of the UK market requires a job with full-time focus. We additionally discovered throughout lockdown – when it was important we acted as one firm – how vital it’s to have devoted nation management in our main markets world wide. Karen is without doubt one of the most admired figures in our trade and the form of collaborative, people-focused chief who is ideal for this position.”
WPP has not too long ago opened Rose Court docket, one other constructing close to its Sea Containers HQ in Southwark, and plans to maneuver into the refurbished former Monetary Occasions constructing, additionally close by.
