In an email to WPP staff, Mark Read praised Wade, describing how he “has built a modern communications and corporate affairs function for WPP while tirelessly promoting and defending our reputation.”
Read the full note below:
To CEOs and Leaders; WPP HQ
After 13 successful years with WPP, Chris Wade has decided to step down as our Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs.
Having achieved so much at WPP, Chris has been considering what’s next for him for some time and – with the wider changes happening in the business and following much discussion between us – he felt now was the right moment to move on to something new.
Throughout his time at WPP, and not least during periods of turbulence and global uncertainty, the company has benefited enormously from his deep experience, astute judgement and steadfast support for his colleagues.
Chris worked very closely with me on creating the “new WPP” – helping to rebrand the company and to establish a new voice and culture at the heart of the business rooted in respect and inclusion. His contribution was invaluable to me and to the company. He has also helped us navigate the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine and the increasingly challenged social and political environment in which we operate.
Over the last seven years Chris has built a modern communications and corporate affairs function for WPP while tirelessly promoting and defending our reputation. Our leadership position in the application of creativity and technology to marketing owes a great deal to Chris and his team, who have also transformed WPP’s own online and social presence – most recently driving mass engagement with our new brand campaign. He has also established a highly effective public affairs operation which has significantly advanced our interests and reputation with policy-makers, regulators and industry bodies.
Chris is a trusted partner and friend to countless people in every part of WPP, and he is admired and respected across the business. I’m personally very grateful for the support he has given me in the years before and during my time as CEO, and I know many others feel the same. We will all miss his wise counsel, his sense of humour and his unfailing dedication to the interests of WPP and its people.
I am pleased to announce that Chris will be succeeded by Michael Frohlich who joins us from The Weber Shandwick Collective, where he has held the position of Global Chief Client Transformation Officer and EMEA CEO for the last four years. Many of you will know Michael from his prior roles with WPP which include leading Ogilvy PR in the UK and EMEA, and subsequently the wider Ogilvy Group in the UK, where as CEO he drove the integration of the agency’s different marketing disciplines. During that time, he was also a WPP client leader for IAG and British Airways.
I’m sure you will give Michael a warm welcome (back) to WPP and I will be in touch when he starts to introduce him and his role more fully.