WPP today announces the appointment of Jane Geraghty (lead image) as chief client officer. Based in New York, she will be responsible for leading WPP’s key client relationships and overseeing the company’s Global Client Leaders.
Geraghty is currently CEO of Landor & Fitch, WPP’s specialist brand and design consultancy, and will remain a board member of Landor & Fitch as Executive Chairman. She succeeds Lindsay Pattison, who is moving to become WPP chief people officer.
Geraghty has been with Landor & Fitch for over 12 years, initially as the leader of Landor London and then president EMEA until the end of 2017, when she was appointed CEO.
She brings nearly 30 years of marketing, brand and communications experience, having worked on both sides of the Atlantic in top-tier advertising and marketing services companies including Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann-Erickson and Ogilvy New York. Jane has also worked in broadcast as Content Development Director at ITV and, immediately before joining Landor, she led the London office of communications consultancy Naked.
During her tenure at Landor, she has driven sustained growth in London, EMEA and now globally, growing the business by 50 per cent since her appointment as CEO six years ago. She has expanded Landor’s offer, leading the acquisition and integration of numerous agencies and successfully bringing together Landor and FITCH.
Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “I am delighted that Jane is joining the central WPP team. As an established member of our executive committee, she comes to this role with an in-depth knowledge of our clients, our agencies and our people. She will be a fantastic asset to our clients, both current and future.”
Geraghty is a passionate advocate for equity in the workplace. This year she will co-chair the Reykjavik Global Forum for Women Leaders alongside the Prime Minister of Iceland. She was named in the HERoes Women Role Model Top 100 in 2023 and is the executive sponsor of the UK chapter of UNITE, WPP’s grassroots LGBTQ+ community.
She will assume the role of WPP chief client officer in January 2024.
Jane Geraghty said: “I’m thrilled to be taking on this role. We have incredible people at WPP doing extraordinary work for our clients, who include many of the world’s leading brands. As we build on recent innovations across WPP, I’m looking forward to working with our teams to unlock more of the company’s capabilities to drive growth for our clients.”
Christian Schroeder will be joining Landor & Fitch in the newly created role of Global President, to head the global leadership team and take day-to-day responsibility for the network, reporting to Jane. He brings more than 30 years of experience working across several agencies in both the advertising and branding and design space.
The move marks a return to Landor & Fitch for Christian, who initially joined Landor 24 years ago. He subsequently led Lambie-Nairn as CEO. Since 2011, he has been part of WPP’s Global Client Leaders team, responsible for leading several of WPP’s largest clients.
