• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 26, 2014

Mark Read, CEO WPP Digital has been appointed to the additional role of Chairman of Wunderman. He succeeds Daniel Morel in the post, who remains CEO of Wunderman.

The agency said that Read would work with Morel to bolster the shop’s digital and technology efforts. He will also help strengthen the firm’s ties with WPP’s new media partners, including Adobe, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft.

“This is particularly appropriate at a time when clients are seeking counsel from their agencies on how to harness the new media,” the agency stated.

The move follows the recent decision by Microsoft to consolidate most of its creative business with Interpublic. Wunderman lost some of its global deployment business as part of that decision, but the agency’s digital and direct engagements were not included in that review. 

Based in London, Read was appointed a director of WPP in 2005. He is also a director of WPP affiliate CHI&Partners and was previously WPP's Director of Strategy.

Read is in his second tour with WPP. He worked at the holding company between 1989 and 1995 in both parent company and operating company roles. Prior to rejoining WPP in 2002, he was a principal at the consultancy firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton and founded and developed the company WebRewards in the UK. 

This story has been updated to report more precisely what Wunderman lost in a recent Microsoft review, and also which assignments were not affected by that review.