LONDON: Tamara Ingram, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and of McCann-Erickson in UK, is joining Kantar, WPP's Insight, Information and Consultancy Division.
A press release says that Ingram will be the president of insight companies: Added Value, Fusion 5 and Henley Centre. Kantar companies include Added Value, BMRB, BPRI, Center Partners, Diagnostic Research, Fusion 5, Glendinning, Henley Centre, icon, IMRB, Kantar Media Research, Lightspeed, Management Ventures, Mattson Jack, Millward Brown, pFour, Research International and Ziment.
The CEOs of those three companies - Paul McGowan and Charles Broome at Added Value; Dave Moran at Fusion 5; Sian Davies at Henley Centre (and until her return from maternity leave, Henley chairman and interim CEO Martin Hayward) - will report into Ingram. The release adds that Ingram in turn will report into Kantar CEO, Eric Salama.
The move builds on the complementary offer of the three companies and their desire to internationalise their offers. All three companies have, in recent years, successfully focused on making their insights actionable by clients and agencies. Ingram's arrival will help take that a step further.
The release quoted Ingram as saying: "In an ever increasingly competitive world, those companies that succeed are those that make use of unique insights. I am delighted to be working with three leading edge organisations that help clients transform their business this way."
Eric Salama was quoted as saying: "I'm thrilled. We've got some of the best companies around, we're ambitious for them and we are willing to invest in order to stay ahead. Tamara is one of the most talented people in the industry and will be a huge catalyst in taking our companies to another level. She knows what clients need to make best use of work carried out on their behalf and how to build enduring relationships with them."
Tamara Ingram graduated with an honours English degree and worked in film production before joining Saatchi & Saatchi in 1985. She was made board account director in 1989 and executive board director in 1993. Tamara became joint chief executive officer in January 1995 and executive chairman in 2001. Tamara then joined McCann-Erickson at the beginning of 2002 as chairman and chief executive.
Tamara is chairman of the London Tourist Board. She is also a member of the Board of the London Development Agency (LDA); member of the Council of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA); member of the Marketing Society; member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain; member of WACL Chair of the Development Board of the Royal Court Theatre; and Trustee of The Beacon Fellowship (Charitable Trust).
Kantar companies employ over 7000 people in 60 markets around the world.
