MAM
WPP hands Adam Gerhart the keys to its client kingdom
The WPP Media veteran moves up to group global chief client officer and a seat on the executive committee
NEW YORK: The client whisperer has got a bigger room. WPP has named Adam Gerhart its global chief client officer. He joins the executive committee, reports to chief operating officer Devika Bulchandani and will be based in New York.
The brief is clear. Gerhart will run WPP’s biggest global client relationships and keep the group’s network of global client leaders on a tight rein. His real task is getting WPP’s agencies to row in the same direction for clients, with data and AI doing a good chunk of the heavy lifting.
He knows the house inside out. Gerhart has climbed the WPP ladder from strategist all the way to global chief executive. Most recently he was global chief client officer at WPP Media. Before that he held the same title at GroupM, and before that he ran Mindshare worldwide.
Bulchandani is clearly a fan. “Adam has it all,” she said, describing him as a client leader who is as sharp in a New York strategy room as he is getting his hands dirty on the ground in China. “There is simply no one better than Adam to represent the best of WPP to our clients.”
Gerhart reckons WPP’s big edge is the sheer size of the toolbox it can open for clients, cutting-edge AI and media transformation expertise included. “I look forward to bringing all of it to bear for our clients, to tackle their biggest opportunities,” he said.
The timing is handy. J.P. Morgan’s New Business Review estimates put WPP at number one in net new business for Q2 and for the first half of 2026.
The new business tap is running. Gerhart’s job is to make sure the bucket has no holes.
