Josh Krichefski, GroupM’s EMEA CEO, has announced he’s leaving the company after 14 years.
In a post on LinkedIn, Krichefski, who is also IPA president, thanked “all the clients, colleagues, partners and even competitors who have supported me along the way”.
As president of the IPA since 2023, Krichefski has promoted a People First Agenda. His commitment to industry talent was demonstrated last year when Krichefski agreed to become the first Future 100 Club ambassador and took part in an exclusive session for the initiative where he declared that the “industry needs training to put its people first”.
More recently, Krichefski was named one of the 25 founding members for the inaugural The Media Leader Club.
Krichefski announced in his post that he will be taking some time off “to think about what comes next”.
“Staying no. 1 is hard. But when your people feel valued, listened to and supported, anything is possible,” he wrote. “I have always felt valued, and I hope my teams have too.”
Krichefski first joined GroupM in 2011 as EMEA chief operating officer of MediaCom (now EssenceMediacom). In 2016, he was named UK CEO of MediaCom, subsequently promoted to EMEA CEO in 2019 and global COO and EMEA CEO in 2020.
Following the completion of the merger between MediaCom and sister GroupM agency Essence in early 2023 to create EssenceMediacom, Krichefski was promoted to GroupM UK and EMEA CEO. He later dropped responsibilities for the UK market, with Kate Rowlinson named GroupM’s UK CEO last autumn.
Tumult at WPP
Krichefski’s decision to step down takes place amid a turbulent time for WPP and its media buying arm.
In its full-year 2024 earnings results last month, WPP reported a 0.7% decline in revenue, although GroupM was a relative bright spot within the holding group, with revenue up 2.7% year on year.
The group has notably lost a number of significant clients recently. Earlier this month, GroupM lost Coca-Cola’s US business to rival Publicis. In the UK, it lost the Sky Media account in August 2024, again to Publicis (Zenith). Elsewhere within WPP, Starbucks moved the majority of its US creative work away from WPP to Stagwell’s Anomaly in January.
Meanwhile, WPP CEO Mark Read has faced backlash for the group’s return-to-office policy and his support of advertisers returning to spending on X, despite widespread brand-safety concerns.
GroupM itself has seen a considerable staff turnover in recent months. CEO Christian Juhl stepped down after five years in September and was replaced by ex-GroupM North America CEO Brian Lesser, who reportedly took a hands-on approach to WPP’s Coke pitch.
Lesser was brought in to steer GroupM amid “comprehensive efforts” to improve GroupM’s “competitive positioning” via greater investment in AI, data and proprietary media.
He also got rid of global agency CEO roles. Nick Lawson, EssencemediaCom’s global CEO, left in December and this week that agency’s global chief operating officer, Frances Ralston-Good, also announced her departure.
This article has been updated after publication to include further details on Krichefski’s background and context around GroupM and its parent WPP.
