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Shaila-Ann Rao is Sportfive International MD
MUMBAI: International sports marketing agency Sportfive, owned by Lagard?re, has announced that Alain Lemarchand has nominated Shaila-Ann Rao as the new managing director of its international business unit.
Rao, who joined Sportfive International in March 2011 as COO, will replace the current MD, Vincent Tong Cuong, who will now lead Sportfive France as its MD.
The change in management, which will be with immediate effect, concludes a first phase in which Vincent has successfully re-positioned Sportfive International as a tenacious and competitive sports marketing agency.
Rao, who was previously Deputy Director of Legal and Business Affairs at TF1 and a member of the TF1 Management Committee, will use the depth and strength of her sports media rights background to drive the international business towards development.
Rao is a trained lawyer who is qualified and has practised in both the UK and in France. In 1996 she joined French national commercial broadcaster TF1 where she spent 12 years negotiating and managing deals with leading international film studios and sports rights holders, working on all major sports competitions and matches broadcast by TF1, including the Fifa World Cups 2010/2014 and the Rugby World Cups 2007/2011.
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
