WPP AUNZ hires CEO from BMW

Jens Monsees, most recently BMW Group's corporate vice president in charge of global digital strategy, corporate planning and product strategy, will take over as CEO and managing director of WPP AUNZ effective October 1.

He will take over from John Steedman, who became interim CEO in October upon the departure of Mike Connaghan. Steedman will continue to lead the company until Monsees comes aboard and work with him to ensure a smooth handover, according to the company.

Steedman will continue in his role as executive director and chairman of media investment
management.

Prior to BMW, Monsees was global CEO, digital marketing, at Arvato AG (part of the Bertelsmann Group) and branding director for automotive, consumer goods, food retail and health care at Google
Germany. He has also hed roles at Mondelez and Schwarzkopf & Henkel.

“The Board conducted an extensive global search to identify the best leader for the company," Rob Mactier, Chairman of WPP AUNZ said in a release. "This appointment underlines our new positioning as a leader not only in creative advertising, branding, communications and media but in technology, data and business transformation. Jens has a strong reputation for building brands and leading change in several industries. He brings rich experience and client-side insights to the role, at a time when the changing needs of our clients are paramount."

Monsees also has a history of building strong, diverse teams with a focus on collaborative culture creation, Mactier added.

Monsees said he is impressed by the creativity, dedication and drive of the WPP AUNZ team. "In this dynamic environment, the potential for WPP AUNZ, as well as for our partners and clients, is tremendous," he said in the release. "I’m absolutely convinced that together, we will be able to build stronger business models and stimulate growth by harnessing our deep creative and digital expertise."

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said the AUNZ team has his full support. “When we relaunched WPP plc as a creative transformation company last December we promised to put great ideas, technology and data at the heart of our new client offer," he said. "Australia and New Zealand are among the most exciting, vibrant and forward-looking markets in the world."