• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, March 11, 2019

WPP’s Wunderman Thompson has appointed Maree Prendergast as Global Chief Talent Officer, effective March 25th. She will report to global CEO Mel Edwards and be based in New York. 

Prendergast, who joins from Publicis.Sapient, will be the first to hold the post at the agency, which WPP created last fall by merging Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson. 

The executives who have been running the functions at Wunderman and JWT are moving on to new posts at the holding company.

Judy Jackson, who has been Chief Talent Officer at Wunderman is stepping into the new role of head of culture at WPP. Laura Agostini, J. Walter Thompson’s Global Chief Talent Officer, is shifting to an as-yet undisclosed role within WPP North America, according to the company.   

Prendergast brings 20 years of experience and leadership in talent strategy and management, human resources, organizational design and other skills to her new role. At Publicis.Sapient she was Chief Talent Officer with global oversight of the function. Previously, she served in the same capacity for Publicis One and earlier, served as Chief Talent Officer, North America for MSLGroup.  

Someone famous in advertising once said the industry’s most valuable assets go down the elevator and out the door each evening. Which I guess is true of a lot of businesses. 

Part of the trick is making sure those assets come back in the morning. At Wunderman Thompson, Prendergast will be working hard to ensure that happens.