The world’s largest advertising company, WPP, has named Cindy Rose OBE as the figure who will replace retiring CEO Mark Read.
Rose has worked in various roles at Microsoft over the last nine years and will replace Read, who has spent more than three decades at the London firm, as CEO on 1st September.
The news comes after the company’s shares tanked on Wednesday – dropping from 527.6p to 428.6p.
WPP shares have since slightly recovered, rising to 441.7p as of 8:17am today.
The share price dip came as a result of a company update in which it told the London Stock Exchange that it expects yearly revenue to be down 3-5% due to ‘limited improvement in H1’.
The business, which currently has a market cap of £4.75bn, expects operating profit to be between £400-£425m for the first half of the year. This is a drop off from the £646m it stood at for the same period in 2024.
Rose, who has experience in helping the world’s largest companies use digital technology and AI to drive business transformation, is set to spearhead the turnaround in fortunes for the global giant.
She is currently COO of global enterprise at Microsoft, a role she has served in since March 2023.
Prior to this, she was CEO of Microsoft UK and president of Microsoft Western Europe, roles which came following periods in executive roles at Vodafone and Virgin Media.
Rose also spent 15 years at The Walt Disney Company, ultimately as senior vice president and managing director of Disney Interactive Media Group, EMEA.
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She has been involved with WPP since 2019, having sat on the board as a non-executive director.
Having dual British and American citizenship, the Columbia University graduate who was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to UK technology will be based in both London and New York.
“Cindy is an outstanding and inspirational business leader with extensive experience at some of the world’s most recognised companies and a track record of growing large-scale businesses,” said Philip Jansen, chair of WPP.
“She has led multi-billion-dollar operations across the UK, EMEA and globally, built enduring client relationships and delivered growth in both enterprise and consumer environments.
“Her expertise in this landscape will be hugely valuable to WPP as the industry navigates fundamental changes and macroeconomic uncertainty. Cindy’s appointment follows a thorough selection process that considered both internal and external candidates.
“As an existing board member she understands our business and the needs of our clients, and we look forward to working with her in her new role as CEO.
“As he hands over to Cindy, I would like to reiterate my sincere thanks to Mark for his tireless commitment during more than 30 years with WPP and in particular the progress he has made to modernise, simplify and transform the company over the last seven years as CEO.”
Rose added: “WPP is a company I know and love – not only from my six years on the board but as a client and partner for many years before that – and I couldn’t be happier or more excited to be appointed as CEO. I began my career in the creative industries and this feels like coming home.
“There are so many opportunities ahead for WPP. We have and continue to build market-leading AI capabilities, alongside an unrivalled reputation for creative excellence and a preeminent client list.
“WPP has the most brilliant, talented, creative people and I can’t wait to write the company’s next chapter together.
“I am grateful to Mark for his many contributions to the business over the years and I look forward to working together to ensure a smooth handover.”