Wavemaker appoints global investment and HR chiefs to 'diverse' leadership team

Wavemaker has hired IPG Mediabrands’ Helen Price as global chief investment officer and McCann’s Shipra Roy as global chief people, inclusion and culture officer.

Price will succeed long-serving investment chief Keith Tiley, who will retire at the end of the year after serving as Wavemaker’s global investment lead since the agency was established through a merger of MEC and Maxus in 2017. He was previously global head of investment at MEC and has spent 16 years in the group.

Campaign understands Tiley will continue in a consultancy capacity in 2022 to ensure a smooth transition to the new investment leadership structure.

In addition to Price, Wavemaker has promoted global managing partner Simon Broderick to global head of investment.

Price joins from IPG Mediabrands, where she was head of global accountability for its media investment arm Magna. She has also served as head of investment across EMEA and before this worked for marketing analysis firm Ebiquity for 15 years.

She brings more than 20 years of experience in the media industry with a focus on media trading and investment. Wavemaker said she had a “strong track record in building and developing innovative media value solutions which balance client savings and commercial opportunity”.

Diversity & evolution

Roy, who joins Wavemaker in December, will arrive from IPG stablemate McCann UK, where she is chief people officer in the UK and Europe.

She will oversee all parts of the HR function to "ensure that Wavemaker continues to attract the best talent and creates great careers regardless of level, role or geography in the organisation, which spans 7,000 people across 88 markets”. 

At McCann, her main responsibilities included setting the people strategy and working on initiatives with a focus on DE&I, leadership development and succession planning. Previously, she worked at VMLY&R, co-leading the talent function globally with responsibility for EMEA, APAC and WPP global clients.

Roy replaces James Edgar, who left the agency in August.

Tiley and Edgar were early appointments to the global leadership team of Wavemaker’s inaugural CEO Tim Castree after Wavemaker was formed in 2017. Toby Jenner, formerly with MediaCom, became Wavemaker's global CEO in 2019 and has been reshaping his global leadership team ever since.

Jenner told Campaign that Price and Roy are important hires in his  revamped team, which will be completed with the “imminent” appointment of a global chief transformation officer.

“Helen and Shipra are two strong female leaders and more broadly reflect the evolution of this agency, GroupM and WPP. They will help form a very balanced and diverse leadership team, which will take Wavemaker on to the next level,” he said.

“Diversity is important; our DNA is about positively provoking and if you don’t have a diverse range of voices and backgrounds, you cannot provoke change.

“We also want to evolve our culture and inclusivity, attracting and developing the very best talent to our organisation. We want to positively provoke our people to grow.”