• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 23, 2019

GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today said Christian Juhl will become global CEO on October 1, succeeding Kelly Clark.

Juhl is currently CEO of GroupM media agency Essence. GroupM has 35,000 people that manage $48 billion in client media billings.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Christian has the right combination of leadership, people and technology skills to build the modern media company, something he has demonstrated extraordinarily well at Essence. We have a great number of talented people across GroupM and its agencies, and I have every confidence in Christian’s ability to be an outstanding leader to them and an outstanding partner to our clients.”

Juhl joined Essence in 2013. He led Essence’s acquisition by WPP in 2015, and since joining GroupM, Essence has grown sharply in markets, clients and services.

Earlier, he held roles with Publicis, Razorfish and USWeb/CKS.

Clark was appointed GroupM’s global CEO in 2016. Since then he has overseen Essence’s expansion into a full-service agency, the creation of Wavemaker (from the merger of MEC and Maxus), the move to 3 World Trade Center in New York, and an array of people and technology investments.

Clark will remain with as a senior advisor to WPP and GroupM.

“Today, we’re stronger and better-positioned to help our clients win in an intensely competitive business environment,” Kelly stated. “I know Christian will work well with our leadership team to build further and faster on our ability to contribute to client growth.”