WPP AUNZ has announced the appointment of Elissa Good-Omozusi (pictured above) to the newly-created role of chief HR and talent officer, with a clear objective to engage, grow and retain the best talent across the group’s 80 operating companies.

Reporting directly to WPP AUNZ chief executive Mike Connaghan, Good-Omozusi will work with WPP AUNZ’s head of talent acquisition, Tom Stevenson, and WPP AUNZ talent, wellbeing and development director Fleur Marks to ensure a collaborative and aligned approach across all HR and talent functions within the group.

With nearly two decades of senior global and local HR experience in the advertising and digital industries, Good-Omozusi was most recently chief HR and talent officer at GroupM.

Prior to that, she was with Publicis UK for 10 years providing HR and talent management solutions across the company’s agencies.

Connaghan said: “The size and complexity of our group demands we have a central HR resource. After an extensive six-month search, we are delighted Elissa will be joining the team, particularly as she already has an intimate knowledge of WPP garnered from her seven years at GroupM.

“We know we have found the best qualified person to collectively bring together the strengths of our most powerful resource – our people.”

Commenting on her new role, Good-Omozusi said: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to work alongside such a collaborative leadership team who are genuinely focused on talent.

“My goal is to work with the existing HR and talent community in continuing to build a best in-class culture, and ensure each and every one of our 5,500 WPP AUNZ employees feel empowered and supported to do great work.”