WPP's Finance Chief Leaves for Diageo, Right When WPP Needs Her Most

Timing is everything, and WPP's timing here is rough. Chief financial officer Joanne Wilson is leaving the ad holding company to become CFO of Diageo, taking the same title to a company that sells Guinness and Johnnie Walker instead of media plans and creative reviews.

Wilson joined WPP in 2023 from Britvic, where she spent three and a half years as CFO, after nearly nine years at Tesco that ended with her running M&A. At WPP, CEO Cindy Rose credited her as "a valued partner as we have strengthened the business, sharpened our financial discipline and begun to deliver our phase one Elevate28," the holding company's turnaround plan. Wilson herself framed the departure as leaving the house in order: "We have built firm foundations in the first phase of Elevate28 to successfully deliver against WPP's strategy." She is staying on for a 12-month notice period while the board searches for a replacement, and her new Diageo package tops out at £4.95 million against a £900,000 base salary, more than triple what her incentive structure could pay out at WPP.

The plain read here does not need much embellishment: WPP posted a 2.8% revenue decline in the second quarter and a 4.7% drop across the first half of the year, and its finance chief just chose that exact moment to walk. A 12-month notice period buys some continuity, but it does not change the optics of a CFO trading a company mid-turnaround for a stronger balance sheet and a much bigger paycheck. When the person closest to the numbers heads for the exit, the people reading those numbers tend to ask why.

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →