By Amara Osei

WPP has promoted Adam Gerhart, a more-than-two-decade veteran of its media operations, to global chief client officer, a role that puts him in charge of key client relationships across the entire holding company network.

Gerhart moves up from WPP Media, where he held the chief client officer title. Tamina Plum, currently global client president at WPP Media, will succeed him there. Gerhart said he had a hand in the selection process — a detail worth noting, since it means the outgoing executive shaped his own succession rather than leaving it to an independent search.

Who held the job before?

Gerhart takes over a position previously held by Jane Geraghty. She no longer holds the client officer remit; she now runs a dual role as global CEO of WPP brand and design alongside her post as global CEO of Landor, the brand consultancy inside the group.

The handover is clean on paper. What WPP has not said is how the global client officer remit will be measured — no targets, client roster changes or retention goals accompanied the announcement.

What is Gerhart's track record?

Gerhart joined WPP's media agency Mindshare in 2003 and stayed there for more than 20 years, with one interruption: a brief stint at rival holding company Publicis in 2004. That tenure makes him one of the longest-serving media-side executives now sitting in a group-level client role at WPP.

The promotion rewards continuity. Gerhart's entire career, minus a single year at a competitor, has run through WPP's media operations — and he will now carry those relationships up to the holding-company level.

The caveat: a group-level client officer role spans disciplines well beyond media, from creative to data to public relations, and Gerhart's demonstrated experience sits squarely in the media camp. WPP is betting that media-side client skills translate across the network.

With Plum installed at WPP Media and Gerhart elevated network-wide, WPP has completed a two-tier succession in a single move. The test now is whether deeper media expertise at the top of the client organization translates into stronger retention across the broader portfolio — something the announcement itself does not address.