Mark Read

Mark Read is one of the most influential figures in global advertising and marketing services, steering WPP — the world's largest agency holding company — through a fundamental reinvention. Since becoming CEO in September 2018, he has repositioned WPP from a sprawling conglomerate of traditional agencies into a focused creative transformation company, embedding technology, data analytics, and artificial intelligence at the heart of its offering. His leadership has been defined by bold structural simplification, including major agency mergers such as VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson into VML, and the divestiture of non-core assets like Kantar.

• BA, History, Trinity College, Cambridge University
• MBA, INSEAD

• Appointed CEO of WPP in 2018, succeeding founder Sir Martin Sorrell, and stabilizing the company during a period of significant uncertainty
• Led the merger of Wunderman and JWT into Wunderman Thompson, and later VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson into VML, streamlining WPP's agency portfolio
• Oversaw WPP's strategic partnership with Google, Microsoft, and other major tech platforms to embed AI into creative and media services
• Divested WPP's majority stake in Kantar to Bain Capital in a deal valuing Kantar at $4 billion, sharpening WPP's strategic focus
• Launched WPP's AI-powered marketing operating system and Open platform to unify data and technology capabilities across the group

• Regular contributor to WPP thought leadership reports and annual reports on the future of marketing and creativity