Wavemaker Global CEO adds new GroupM president role

Wavemaker Global CEO Toby Jenner is expanding his remit to become the first global president of GroupM clients, effective immediately. In this new role, Jenner will lead GroupM’s global go-to-market strategy and its growth, marketing and communications. He will work across agencies to identify growth opportunities and develop integrated solutions for clients at GroupM, WPP’s media investment group. Jenner will not assume client oversight of GroupM’s Mindshare and EssenceMediacom, which will continue to be responsible for their respective clients, according to the company. GroupM's other units include T&P, Nexus and Choreograph. Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards Join us July 23 & 24 in Boston Learn more here Jenner will continue to serve as the global chief executive of GroupM agency Wavemaker, a role he has held since July 2019. “Over the past year-and-a-half, we’ve demonstrated the success of combining agency talent with GroupM's globally scaled technology and activation capabilities,” Jenner said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase our networked capabilities, which we have been developing across GroupM, to drive the next phase of growth for our organization.” Jenner was not available for further comment. The move comes as GroupM Global CEO Christian Juhl works to consolidate the media agency group—through moves such as merging Essence and MediaCom last year and centralizing all of its agencies’ new business and marketing efforts under GroupM last November—in an effort to bring more simplicity to clients. “As we go through our simplification process, we’re looking to codify systems and processes, leveraging the best skills and expertise across the group,” a GroupM spokesperson wrote to Ad Age when asked if Jenner’s new role is in response to clients wanting more integration. “Toby’s success with Wavemaker makes him an ideal fit to scale best practice approaches across our growth and marketing operations.” In a press release, GroupM pointed to Jenner leading Wavemaker to be No. 1 in Comvergence’s annual new business rankings for 2023 as proof of his ability to succeed in this new role. GroupM, meanwhile, won PayPal’s global media account last October but also lost several major accounts in 2023, including Kimberly-Clark (which was with Mindshare), General Mills (another former Mindshare client) and Uber (which was with EssenceMediacom). “Toby’s deep understanding of client needs, industry knowledge and track record as the industry’s most successful new business leader make him the best possible candidate to lead our growth and marketing efforts going forward," Juhl said in a statement. Jenner has worked within GroupM for the past 20 years, joining in 2004 as managing director of MEC, which merged with Maxus to form Wavemaker in 2017. Before Wavemaker, Jenner was with MediaCom (before it merged with Essence), most recently as worldwide chief operating officer. He’s worked across regional and global markets in places such as Australia, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K. GroupM has recently undergone a host of U.S. leadership changes including appointing new North American CEO Sharb Farjami in January, following Kirk McDonald’s departure last October. Farjami made his first leadership appointments in February, naming JiYoung Kim as chief operating officer and Lynne Reilly as the first chief growth officer of North America.

Wavemaker Global CEO adds new GroupM president role

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