• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 13, 2013

WPP confirmed it has appointed three new non-executive directors to its board. They are Daniela Riccardi, Dr. John Hood and Nicole Seligman.

A prominent fast moving consumer goods and retail-and-fashion products executive, Riccardi is CEO of Baccarat, the international luxury goods company. Previously she was CEO of fashion retailer Diesel Group. Earlier she was a long-time executive at Procter & Gamble, including stints as President of P&G Greater China and VP-GM for Eastern Europe and Russia.

Riccardi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in Political Science and International Studies at Sapienza University of Rome and completed a Fellowship in Marketing at Yale University. Her appointment took effect Sept. 12 and she will serve as a member of the WPP Compensation Committee.

An international education and business leader Hood is currently Chairman of nuclear power giant URENCO Ltd and serves as a non-executive director of BG Group plc, and as President of the Robertson Foundation and as Chairman of the Rhodes Trust. He was formerly Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford and of the University of Auckland. In his native New Zealand, he served as Chairman of environmental and engineering consultant Tonkin & Taylor  and as non-executive director of dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group, ASB Bank  and other companies. 

Hood earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Auckland and then won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. His appointment will be effective January 1, 2014, and he will serve as Chairman of the WPP Compensation Committee.

A senior Sony executive since 2001, Nicole Seligman is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Sony Corporation and President of Sony Corporation of America. Previously, as a partner in the Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly, she counseled a wide range of clients, including major media companies, on complex litigation and commercial matters. She formerly was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and was associate editorial page editor for the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Seligman was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Her appointment will be effective starting January 1, 2014, and she will serve as a member of the WPP Compensation Committee.

Commenting on the appointments, Philip Lader, WPP's Chairman, stated: "The appointments of such accomplished executives and internationally respected leaders will bring further professional depth, business acumen and global experience to the WPP Board."