• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, November 11, 2022

WPP has appointed Frank-Michael ‘FM’ Schmidt, CEO of Scholz & Friends Family, as the first President of its German business, effective on Jan. 1.

Scholz & Friends Family is a German ad agency that is part of VMLY&R network and Schmidt will retain his CEO duties there while taking on the broader WPP role. Scholz & Friends Family clients include VW, McDonald’s and the Federal Republic of Germany.

Germany is WPP’s third largest market, and the holding company employs 7,000 people in the country.

Schmidt joined the WPP network in 1998 at J. Walter Thompson, later becoming Chief Strategy Officer of its German business. He moved to Scholz & Friends in 2003 as CEO in Germany and was later appointed CEO of the Scholz & Friends Family, operating across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), in 2008.