WPP names Pretorius chief technology officer and Pattison chief client officer

WPP chief executive Mark Read is building his senior team by making a series of appointments.

Stephan Pretorius, Wunderman's UK group chief executive and global chief technology officer, is to become WPP's chief technology officer, a newly created position. And Lindsay Pattison, chief transformation officer at WPP and GroupM, is promoted to the new role of WPP chief client officer, with responsibility for global client leaders and getting different parts of the group working together on big accounts.

Pretorius joined WPP in 2016 as a result of Wunderman, then led by Read, acquiring his business Acceleration. Pretorius was initially Wunderman's chief technology officer before expanding his remit to include the whole group as well as taking on the role of UK chief executive. 

His appointment is significant because Read has previously said he wants WPP to "get closer to technology partners like Adobe, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others".

Pretorius’ role will include ensuring WPP has a consistent technology and data strategy and to deal with clients on tech issues.

Read has also laid out the details of Andrew Scott’s new position as chief operating officer, following his appointment in September.

Scott will be in charge of WPP’s operating structure, M&A and rationalising the business.

WPP is under pressure to simplify the group and Read has already made a significant move by merging creative network Y&R with digital agency VML to form VMLY&R.

Read is holding a global strategy meeting for WPP leaders in Brooklyn, New York, next week.