British advertising major WPP plc (WPP,WPP.L) announced Thursday that Cindy Rose, a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) executive, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1.
Rose succeeds Mark Read, who will step down as CEO on the same date. Read will continue to work with the new CEO to support the transition until the end of the year.
Rose has spent the last nine years in senior leadership positions at Microsoft where she is currently Chief Operating Officer, Global Enterprise. She holds extensive experience in the technology, telecommunications, media, entertainment and creative industries.
Before being appointed to her current Microsoft role in March 2023, Rose was President of Microsoft Western Europe and CEO of Microsoft UK.
Other previous roles include Managing Director of the UK consumer business at Vodafone and Executive Director of Digital Entertainment and Media Sales at Virgin Media. She also spent 15 years at The Walt Disney Co..
Rose has been a Non-Executive Director on the WPP Board since 2019.
The appointment follows a thorough selection process that considered both internal and external candidates.
Philip Jansen, Chair of WPP, said, "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. Cindy has supported the digital transformation of large enterprises around the world - including embracing AI to create new customer experiences, business models and revenue streams. Her expertise in this landscape will be hugely valuable to WPP as the industry navigates fundamental changes and macroeconomic uncertainty."
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