Former WPP chief executive Mark Read’s “retirement” has been short-lived with the agency chief appointed chairman of Kantar Media’s newly formed board of directors.
Kantar Group and Bain Capital sold Kantar Media to investment firm HIG Capital earlier this year, with the deal concluding in August.
Read’s experience of the agency market is extensive. The former Wunderman global chief executive was sworn into the top WPP role in September 2018, following months of speculation about the successor to Sir Martin Sorrell.
He had first joined WPP in 1989 as a corporate development manager, staying five years. He then had a spell at Booz & Co before founding online loyalty business WebRewards in 1999, which was subsequently sold to Bertelsmann.
Read returned to WPP in 2002 as director of strategy and was appointed to the main board in 2006 after taking on the role of CEO of WPP Digital but stepped down in 2015; he took on the additional job of CEO at Wunderman in 2015, succeeding Daniel Morrel.
He “retired” from WPP earlier this year and was succeeded by Microsoft global chief operating officer Cindy Rose.
HIG Capital said Read’s “proven track record in driving transformation and innovation” would be “invaluable” for the next phase of the company’s growth.
Kantar Media chief executive Patrick Béhar commented: “We are honoured that Mark has chosen to join Kantar Media’s board at a pivotal moment in our company’s journey. Mark combines deep strategic thinking with practical experience in transformation, data and AI, and most importantly he shares our ambition to transform the industry by bringing clarity to a complex landscape.”
Read added: “I am delighted to join Kantar Media’s board as chairman, and to support Patrick and his leadership team in bringing greater clarity to the media ecosystem at a time when audience behaviour is changing more rapidly than ever.”
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