Following last week’s bombshell news that a lawsuit had been filed in New York federal court by J. Walter Thompson Company chief communications officer Erin Johnson against the agency due to inappropriate remarks allegedly made by chairman and CEO Gustavo Martinez, parent company WPP today announced that Martinez has resigned by “mutual agreement” from his post at the international marketing agency.
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Tamara Ingram, WPP’s chief client team officer, has now been appointed Martinez’s successor.
Ingram, who has held the chief client team officer role since 2015, was previously president and CEO of WPP's Team P&G group. Prior to that she was group executive vice president and managing director at WPP unit Grey Group, and was group CEO at IPG subsidiary McCann Worldgroup. Ingram assumes her new position as JWT CEO immediately.
WPP global business development director George Rogers, meanwhile, will succeed Ingram in the role of WPP chief client team officer. Rogers joined WPP in 2005, first serving as CEO of the ad/PR combine’s Detroit-based offices before becoming director of global business development in 2011. Prior to joining WPP, Rogers was executive vice president of advertising and marketing communications agency Mullen.
In the lawsuit, Johnson, an 11-year employee with the company, alleges that Martinez repeatedly used offensive language when referring to Jewish and African-American people, and also allegedly made jokes about raping her and other female staff. The suit also alleges that Martinez slashed Johnson's bonus and kept her out of meetings after she complained to JWT management about Martinez’s behavior.
The suit was first reported by the New York Post.
JWT this week hired WPP firm Finsbury for crisis PR support in wake of the lawsuit. The ad agency has also retained law firm Proskauer Rose to conduct a review of Johnson’s claims. Johnson, who is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, is currently on leave from the firm.
Martinez, who was appointed JWT CEO in 2015, released a statement soon after the lawsuit’s filing in which he denied Johnson’s allegations. Martinez stated that " there is absolutely no truth to these outlandish allegations and I am confident that this will be proven in court."
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Teneo has hired Philipp Grontzki, who is a 20-year veteran of corporate communications and financial journalism, as a managing director in its strategy and communications group.
Rowan Benecke, who co-founded Zeno Group and helmed Burson-Marsteller's tech practice, has joined McKinsey & Co as director of communications for North America.
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