Tamara Ingram appointed J Walter Thompson global CEO as Gustavo Martinez quits

Following recent events, Tamara Ingram, currently Chief Client Team Officer at WPP, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of J. Walter Thompson Company, replacing Gustavo Martinez, who has resigned, with immediate effect.

The announcement comes a week after Erin Johnson, the agency’s chief communications officer, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court alleging Martinez had made constant sexist and racist slurs over a period of time.

In 2015, Ingram was named WPP’s Chief Client Team Officer, overseeing the Group’s 45 global account teams, representing one-third of the Group’s $20 billion of revenues with over 38,000 employees working on these clients.  Prior to that, Ingram was President and Chief Executive Officer of Team P&G, a position she held since 2007. She joined WPP’s wholly-owned data investment division, Kantar, in 2003.

Ingram brings extensive advertising agency experience to J. Walter Thompson. Following WPP’s acquisition of Grey Global Group in 2005, she joined that agency as Grey UK’s Group Chief Executive Officer. There, she was also global leader on the P&G account. Before that, Ingram served as Chief Executive Officer of McCann Worldgroup in London. She began her career at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1985 as a temp, rising to Chief Executive of the London office, before leaving for McCann Worldgroup.

George Rogers succeeds Ingram as WPP’s Chief Client Team Officer with immediate effect, in addition to his current duties as WPP’s Global Business Development Director.

Rogers has been instrumental in WPP’s success in parent company pitches since assuming his business development role in 2011. He joined WPP in 2005 when he was named Chief Executive Officer of Team Detroit, one of the Group’s earliest team accounts. He joined WPP from Mullen, where he was Executive Vice President.

  Agency News, CEO, Controversy, Gustavo Martinez, J. Walter Thompson, JWT, Tamara Ingram, WPP