GroupM gains new global growth and marketing team under Toby Jenner

GroupM has appointed six leaders to its global growth and marketing team in a move it has called the “first wave” of such announcements for the newly integrated team.

The additions are part of Wavemaker global chief executive Toby Jenner’s expanded remit, which he took on when he was also apppointed global president, Group M clients, in May this year. This placed him in charge of GroupM’s global proposition, go-to-market strategy and the integration of its growth, marketing, and communications teams.

The appointments signal that GroupM, the world's largest media buyer, is expanding its central team and taking more of an outward-facing role alongside its subsidiary agencies, EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker.

Hamish Davies, chief global growth and marketing officer at Wavemaker, is to take on the role of global chief growth officer at GroupM and will be responsible for the group’s global new business.

Emma Maple, Wavemaker global head of growth operations, is to become global growth operations lead at GroupM to manage resources and logistics for all global pitches and pitch squads operating out of the UK. 

Laura Neal, global head of business systems at EssenceMediacom, will be moving to a similar role at GroupM, in a new position for the group, to unite and simplify its tools, technologies and processes as global head of business reporting and systems.

Alexandra Scillieri, partner and global head of design for EssenceMediacom, will also join the team as global head of design and production. In addition, Shipra Roy, global chief people, inclusion and culture officer at Wavemaker, will be global chief people officer, growth and marketing, and Sam Weston, GroupM executive director, global corporate communications, becomes global head of corporate and industry communications and marketing.

Davies, Maple, Neal and Roy will be based in the UK, with Scillieri and Weston based in the US.

Jenner said: "We are building a team which represents talent who are uniquely qualified, not just for GroupM but for the industry as a whole. 

“They underscore the unrivalled depth of talent and expertise we are able to deploy on behalf of our clients around the world and our commitment to delivering integrated, agile and effective solutions that continue to set new standards for excellence in our industry.”

Earlier this month, GroupM also confirmed that Brian Lesser would be joining as its global CEO starting in September, as Christian Juhl moves to the new role of president, corporate development.

Following the announcement of Lesser's appointment, industry analyst Brian Wieser, principal at Madison and Wall, noted GroupM's "significant challenges" from competitors and that Publicis Media has been closing the gap between the two in recent years.

At WPP's Q1 results, GroupM’s growth slowed significantly year on year.

The holding company said: “Group M, our media planning and buying business, saw growth in revenue less pass-through costs of 2.4% in Q1 (Q1 2023: +6.1%), with continued growth in client investment in media, partially offset by the impact of US client assignment losses from prior years and lower spending by technology clients.”