Jens Monsees, the now former CEO of WPP AUNZ, plans to stay in Australia, according to those close to his family.
He came from German to Australia in October 2019, from BMW and before that Google, with a brief to simplify operations of the then ASX-listed company.
His three children, now aged 8, 12 and 14, first went to German school but then switched to local schools.
Friends say the family is happy with life on Sydney’s northern beaches.
WPP plc, the UK-based global advertising group, took 100% control of Australian operations last week. This prompted Monsees to step down as CEO as the company transitioned from a public company to a fully integrated business within WPP.
Monsees led the company during the depths of the economic fallout of the pandemic, all the time restructuring the business and building capabilities in experience, commerce, data and technology.
He had two roles -- chief executive and chief transformation officer. He told shareholders in May last year: “We are leveraging the current crisis to expedite restructuring and make our company future proof."
Monsees has always been vocal and upbeat about Australia, its lifestyle and the depth of talent here.
After being here a few months (February 2020), he told AdNews: “I love it.”
He cited Australia’s natural beauty, the beaches and untapped nature.
“I would say it's a very open and welcoming culture because everybody immigrated at one point to this country or most of them did," he said in late February 2020.
“And so what we carry in our nation here is so much diversity … doing things different, having different points of views.”
He told the story of talking to an Italian born man who had an ice cream shop. Monsees' wife is Italian.
“It's (Australia) so rich in terms of cultural background.”
He was also taken with how strong the people are supporting each other in adversity such as bushfires and flood.
“It's a nation that is very much supporting each other,” he said then. “This is what I like.”
And Australia was “exceeding my expectations” for his wife and three children “We love it here,” he said then.
Industry insiders say WPP plc raised the prospect of Monsees becoming country manager when the global holding company took 100% control of the Australian company and delisted the local entity from the ASX.
But Monsees liked the challenges of running an ASX-listed company with full P/L responsibility.
A country manager would not have that depth of control or responsibility that he had running WPP AUNZ.
Friends say Monsees, with his track record now as a CEO of an ASX-listed company, could well surface later in another high profile role.
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