- Cindy Rose was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to UK technology
Advertising giant WPP has named Microsoft executive Cindy Rose as its next boss, a day after the London-listed group issued a profit warning.
WPP and its rivals have seen trade deteriorate in recent years against growing competition, weaker brand marketing spending and the capacity for new artificial intelligence innovations to empower businesses to produce their own advertising.
Its current boss Mark Read intends to step down at the end of 2025 after seven years characterised by bruising macroeconomic conditions and a sharp share price decline.
WPP, which lost its crown as the world’s biggest advertising group to France’s Publicis last year, said Rose brings ‘extensive experience as a leader in the technology, telecommunications, media, entertainment and creative industries’.
Rose, a WPP board member since 2019, has spent the last nine years at tech giant Microsoft, where she is currently chief operating officer for global enterprise.
The role involves helping ‘the world’s largest companies use digital technology and AI to drive business transformation’, WPP said.
She was awarded an OBE in 2019 in recognition of her services to UK rechnology.
Cindy Rose was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year Honours in recognition of her services to UK technology.
WPP chair Philip Jansen said Rose 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’.
He added: ‘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.’
Prior to Micosoft, Rose has held leadership roles at Vodafone, Virgin Media and The Walt Disney Company.
Rose, who has US and UK citizenship, will be based in London and New York.
She told WPP shareholders on Thursday: ‘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 shares jumped 2.6 per cent to 439.9p in early trading.
They have lost roughly 40 per cent over the last 12 months.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: ‘Under Read’s tenure, WPP’s share price faced a tough decline, winning business has been challenging, and it lost its crown as the world’s leading ad company to Publicis.
‘A bigger focus from Rose on tech and AI will be the best way for the company to regain ground.
‘The market has given its seal of approval to Rose with WPP jumping towards the top of the FTSE 100 on the news, which alleviates a lot of C-suite uncertainty for the ad giant.’
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