Kirk McDonald, North America CEO of WPP’s GroupM, will leave the company. Read the internal email about his departure.

Mindshare Global CEO Adam Gerhart will take on additional duties as GroupM North America CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement, Juhl wrote.

“I’d like to thank Kirk for his many contributions to our company. A champion for innovation and responsible investment, he has been a strong and inspirational leader for us and our industry,” Juhl wrote in the email. “He has also been a valuable partner to me and the global GroupM leadership community more broadly.”

The US has dragged on WPP’s revenue growth this year, with the company pointing to a slowdown in marketing spend from its technology clients based there. Its net revenue in the US dropped 4.2% in the third quarter.

GroupM North America lost several key accounts and new business pitches to rivals in recent months, which had fueled speculation inside and outside the company that McDonald could soon be exiting.

A source told Insider earlier this month that GroupM CEO had a plan for GroupM and that “part of that is going to be to address the underperformance in the US.”

WPP CEO Mark Read said on the company’s earnings call this week that there were plans to further simplify GroupM and that it would disclose more details in January.

Read more: Insiders question WPP CEO Mark Read’s bounceback plan after a chaotic period of mergers, account losses, and a stock slump

GroupM did recently win PayPal’s global media account and WPP media agencies have picked up other business from the likes of Adobe and Discovery.

McDonald joined GroupM in 2020 and served on the agency’s global leadership team.

His appointment was a surprise to some in the industry because he didn’t have experience leading media agencies. He had held roles at various technology companies during his career, most-recently as chief business officer of Xandr, an adtech unit previously owned by AT&T. He had also worked at the adtech company PubMatic, and publications like Time Inc, Fortune, and CNET.

Under McDonald’s leadership, GroupM North America has sought to implement a “responsible investment strategy.” The agency this year said it would allocate 5% of its ad spend on media outlets owned by or aimed at Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islanders and LGBTQ+ Americans. In 2021 it launched a so-called data ethics compass to help advertisers understand whether the data they are using is watertight from both a legal and moral standpoint.

In a statement provided by GroupM, McDonald said, “Since I joined GroupM a little more than three years ago, we’ve achieved incredible things — for our company, the industry, and our clients — living up to our promise of making advertising work better for people.”

Read the email from GroupM Global CEO Christian Juhl to employees about Kirk McDonald’s departure in full below:

Hello GroupM North America, 

After three years driving significant change and progress across our business, Kirk McDonald has decided to step down from his role as North America CEO and leave GroupM at the end of the year. 

I’d like to thank Kirk for his many contributions to our company. A champion for innovation and responsible investment, he has been a strong and inspirational leader for us and our industry. He has also been a valuable partner to me and the global GroupM leadership community more broadly. 

While Kirk will be with us through the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition, I’m pleased to share that Mindshare’s Global CEO Adam Gerhart will take on additional duties as interim CEO for GroupM North America as we undertake a formal search for Kirk’s replacement. Adam knows our business extremely well, having originally started his career with us in New York and taking on a wide range of roles before becoming US CEO for Mindshare in 2016, and Global CEO in 2021. He’s worked closely with many members of the NA leadership team already and I’m confident in the strategic guidance he will provide during this transition.

I hope that you will join me in thanking Kirk and wishing him the best for the future. While we will miss him as he moves on to pursue his next challenge in the new year, we are fortunate to have such a strong leadership team in place for the region. 

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our clients throughout the year. I look forward to seeing as many of you as I can either in the office or in upcoming town halls. 

Thanks, 

Christian