Tamara Ingram has been appointed global CEO of J Walter Thompson Co (JWT) after Gustavo Martinez resigned over allegations of racist and sexual slurs.
She joins Maxus Worldwide global CEO Lindsay Pattison as women who lead global ad agencies.
Ingram has been the chief client team officer at WPP since May 2015, overseeing 45 global account teams with 38,000 staff that made $20 billion in revenue, roughly a third of WPP's total.
Ingram began her career at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1985 as a temp and eventually rose to chief executive of the London office, before leaving for McCann Worldgroup, where she served as CEO.
She joined WPP’s wholly-owned data investment division Kantar in 2003. Following WPP’s acquisition of Grey Global Group in 2005, Ingram became Grey UK’s Group CEO and was global leader of the P&G account until stepping into chief client team officer role last year.
Ingram is well regarded in the industry for her ability to manage a diverse range of clients and build successful teams.
Martinez parted company with JWT by mutual consent a week after JWT chief communications officer Erin Johnson filed a discrimination lawsuit in New York, claiming he made racist and sexual slurs.
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