• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 12, 2022

GroupM UK CEO Karen Blackett has been upped to president, WPP UK, the holding company’s second largest market after the U.S.

Black has been doing double duty as WPP UK country manager and running GroupM’s UK operations and will now devote full time to the WPP management role. Her successor in the GroupM post is expected to be announced shortly.

WPP has 12,000 people in the UK and revenues of more than 2 billion GBP ($2.34 billion).

As part of the company’s ongoing effort to streamline its operations, WPP recently opened a second campus building in London and has a third site in development.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, stated, “As we bring our agencies together in our new campuses and deliver increasingly integrated services for our clients, the scale and significance of the UK market requires a role with full-time focus.”

Read added “We also learned during lockdown – when it was essential we acted as one company – how important it is to have dedicated country leadership in our major markets around the world. Karen is one of the most admired figures in our industry and the kind of collaborative, people-focused leader who is perfect for this role.”