• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 9, 2021

WPP has confirmed several senior executive appointments designed to further strengthen its leadership team servicing global client Ford Motor Company.  

Jason Xenopoulous will become Global Chief Creative Officer at Ford-dedicated agency GTB, while continuing his role as Co-Chief Creative Officer for North America at VMLY&R, also part of WPP. 

He is being succeeded as CEO VMLY&R New York by Beth Ann Kaminkow. She moves into a dual role retaining responsibility for VMLY&R Commerce globally as CEO. 

The agency said Xenopoulous and Kaminkow will work closely to drive the agency’s global creative positioning across its portfolio of New York clients, including Dell, New Balance, Pfizer and Campbell’s. Since 2018 under Xenopoulous’ leadership, the New York office has grown revenues by double digits and added 27 new clients. 

At GTB Marc Sanford will take on the Global Chief Data Science and Platform Officer role, leading efforts to further enhance personalization models for Ford customers and strengthen key platform partnerships.  

Amanda Phillips joins WPP as Regional Client Lead for Europe after most recently leading global brand operations for Jaguar Land Rover. WPP said Phillips is valued for her skills in strategic marketing, customer experience and journey planning, as well as media and communications.  

Babita Baruah has been appointed Regional Client Lead for the International Markets Group after successfully leading GTB India as Managing Partner. 

Bill Burkart will become the Global Lead on Commercial/B2B. Burkhart is President of Wunderman Thompson’s B2B practice and has built global solutions for brands across various industries, including technology, packaged goods, ecommerce and retail.