WPP leadership

WPP's Board of directors is collectively responsible for promoting the success of the Company by directing and supervising the Group's strategy and is responsible to shareowners for the Group's financial and operational performance.

Roberto Quarta
Paul Richardson
Jacques Aigrain
Tarek Farahat
Sir John Hood
Ruigang Li
Daniela Riccardi
Nicole Seligman
Hugo Shong
Sally Susman
Sol Trujillo

Roberto Quarta
Executive Chairman | Letter of appointment - Roberto Quarta
Roberto Quarta was appointed as a director with effect from 1 January 2015 and became chairman of WPP in June 2015. He is Chairman of Smith & Nephew plc, a FTSE 100 listed global medical devices company and Partner of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Chairman of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Europe, a private equity firm. Previously, he was Chief Executive and then Chairman of BBA Group plc, Chairman of Rexel SA and a Non-Executive Director at BAE Systems plc, Equant NV, Foster Wheeler AG and PowerGen plc.

Paul Richardson
Finance director
Paul Richardson became Group finance director of WPP in 1996 after four years with the Company as director of treasury. He is responsible for the Group’s worldwide functions in finance, information technology, procurement, property, treasury, taxation, internal audit and sustainability. He is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Jacques Aigrain
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Jacques Aigrain
Jacques Aigrain was appointed a director of WPP on 13 May 2013. He is currently a Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus LLP. He was on the Executive Committee of Swiss Re AG from 2001 to 2009 including CEO from 2006, and prior to that, he spent 20 years with JP Morgan Chase in New York, London and Paris. In addition, he is a non-executive director of London Stock Exchange Group Plc and a Supervisory Board Member of LyondellBassel NV and Swiss International Airlines AG. He was Chairman of LCH Clearnet Group Ltd from 2010 to March 2015, and also was a Director of the Qatar Financial Center Authorities until March 2015 and Supervisory Board Member of Lufthansa AG until April 2015. He is a dual French and Swiss citizen. He holds a PhD in Economics from Sorbonne University and a MA degree in Economics from Paris Dauphine University.

Tarek Farahat
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Tarek Farahat
Tarek Farahat was appointed as a director with effect from 11 October 2016. Mr Farahat is a Global Adviser to JBS Worldwide, having previously served as Chairman, Global President for Marketing and Innovation and as a member of the Board of Directors of JBS S.A. Mr Farahat serves on the Board of Pilgrims Pride Corp. Prior to JBS, Mr Farahat spent 26 years at Procter & Gamble, in a range of marketing and general executive management roles, working across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, including the General Management/Vice President roles of the Latin America region from 2001. As the head of Procter & Gamble operations in Brazil (2006 - 2012) he led the company to a period of accelerated growth as well as successfully integrating the Gillette business. In 2012, he was elected by the board of directors of Procter & Gamble as President for Procter & Gamble Latin America and was also appointed to Procter & Gamble's Global Leadership Council. Mr Farahat has a BA Business degree from the American University in Cairo and a degree in Finance from the Cairo University. He is a joint Egyptian and Brazilian citizen.

Sir John Hood
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Sir John Hood
Sir John Hood was appointed a director on 1 January 2014. An international education and business leader, he was formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and of the University of Auckland. In his native New Zealand, he served as Chairman of Tonkin & Taylor Ltd and as non-executive director of Fonterra Co-operative Group, ASB Bank Ltd, and other companies. Sir John currently serves as President & CEO of the Robertson Foundation and as Chairman of Study Group Limited and BMT Group. He also serves as Chair of the Rhodes Trust which oversees the Rhodes Scholarship program. Sir John serves on the boards of Aurora Energy Research, Blackstone, Fletcher Trust, the Mandela Rhodes Foundation and the Said Business School Foundation, as well as the advisory board for the African Leadership Academy. Sir John earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Auckland and then won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he was awarded an MPhil in Management Studies. Sir John has been appointed a Knight Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Ruigang Li
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Ruigang Li
Ruigang Li was appointed a director of WPP on 12 October 2010. He is the Founding Chairman of CMC Capital Partners and CMC Holdings (CMC), China’s most prestigious platforms for media and entertainment investment and operation with an extensive coverage across the entire spectrum of traditional and internet space. Ruigang Li has led CMC to create a number of champions and emerging leaders in key sub-sectors including television, film, animation, sports, music, location-based entertainment, financial media, financial and media data services, advertising, e-commerce, ticketing, mobile video social network, game and education. Ruigang Li was the Chairman and President of SMG (Shanghai Media Group) for more than 10 years and successfully transformed SMG from a Shanghai-based provincial broadcaster into China’s leading media conglomerate with the most diversified business scope.

Daniela Riccardi
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Daniela Riccardi
Daniela Riccardi was appointed a director on 12 September 2013. A prominent FMCG, retail-and-fashion products executive, she is Chief Executive Officer of Baccarat, the international luxury goods company, and was Chief Executive Officer of Diesel Group, the innovative fashion business. She was an executive at Procter & Gamble for 25 years, including service as President of Procter & Gamble Greater China, with 7,000 employees, and Vice President-General Manager for Eastern Europe & Russia. Ms Riccardi also sits on the Board of Kering and on the Board of Comite Colbert. Ms Riccardi is a guest lecturer at the Grenoble Ecole de Management in Paris. Ms Riccardi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in Political Science and International Studies at Sapienza University of Rome and completed a Fellowship in Marketing at Yale University.

Nicole Seligman
Non-Executive director, Senior Independent director | Letter of appointment - Nicole Seligman
Nicole Seligman was appointed a director on 1 January 2014. Most recently, Ms Seligman served as President of Sony Entertainment, Inc. and Sony Corporation of America and Song Group Senior Legal Counsel. Until 2014, she was Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Sony Corporation. Previously, as a partner in the Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly, she counselled a wide range of clients, including major media companies, on complex litigation and commercial matters. She was a law clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and was associate editorial page editor for the Asian Wall Street Journal. Ms Seligman serves on the Board of Viacom Inc. She was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Hugo Shong
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Hugo Shong
Hugo Shong was appointed a director on 13 May 2013. He is the Global Chairman of IDG Capital and president of IDG Asia/China. He joined IDG in 1991 as an associate to IDG’s founder and chairman, Patrick J. McGovern, for Asian business development after working for three years as a reporter and editor at Electronic Business and Electronic Business Asia magazine, where he launched over 40 magazines and newspapers in Asian countries, such as PC World Vietnam, the Chinese editions of NetworkWorld, Electronic Products, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, National Geographic, FHM and Men’s Health. In 1993, he helped IDG to set up the first technology venture fund in China, IDG Capital, which now has $5 billion under management and an investment portfolio including Baidu, Tencent (QQ), Sohu, Ctrip, Soufun and Xiaomi. In January 2017, IDG Capital led the acquisition of IDG Ventures, the investment business under IDG. He current serves on the board of Mei Ah Entertainment Group, an entertainment company with interests in television, film and theatre listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Hugo has been a member of the board of trustees of Boston University since 2005. After completing his undergraduate studies at Hunan University, he attended the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and earned a Master of Science from Boston University in 1987. He conducted graduate studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Sally Susman
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Sally Susman
Sally Susman was appointed a director on 13 May 2013. She is currently executive vice president, Corporate Affairs for Pfizer, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company. Sally also heads the firm’s corporate responsibility group and plays a key role in shaping policy initiatives. Before joining Pfizer in 2007, Sally was EVP of Global Communications at Estée Lauder, where she directed global corporate affairs strategy and served as a member of the Executive Committee. She also held several senior corporate affairs posts at American Express, working in both London and the US. She started her career in government service focused on international trade issues and her positions included Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs in the US Department of Commerce. She serves of the board of the International Rescue Committee. Sally holds a BA in Government from Connecticut College in the US and has studied at the London School of Economics.

Sol Trujillo
Non-Executive director | Letter of appointment - Sol Trujillo
Solomon D. (Sol) Trujillo was appointed a director of WPP on 12 October 2010. He is an international business executive with three decades’ experience as CEO of high-cap global companies in the US, the EU and Asia Pacific. A digital pioneer and long-time practitioner of market-based management, Sol was an early champion of high-speed broadband and the mobile internet to stimulate productivity and innovation across all sectors of the economy. Sol currently sits on corporate boards in the US, EU and China and has managed operations in more than 25 countries around the world – including developed as a well as emerging markets from the EU and North America to China, Australasia, Africa and the Middle East

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WPP leadership

WPP leadership