# Cindy Rose
> Chief Executive Officer at wpp
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/cindy-rose/
- Also known as: Cindy Rose OBE, Cynthia Rose, Cindy Rose WPP, Cindy Rose Microsoft
## Summary
Cindy Rose is CEO of WPP plc since September 1, 2025 — the first woman to lead a global agency holding company. A nine-year Microsoft veteran (UK CEO, Western Europe President, Global Enterprise COO), she succeeded Mark Read with a turnaround mandate. Her Elevate28 plan, unveiled February 2026, restructures WPP into four operating units built on WPP Open, targeting £500m in cost savings by 2028.

## Profile facts

- Current title: Chief Executive Officer
- Current company: wpp (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/wpp/)


## Career trajectory

- 1995-01-01 — Various senior roles, ultimately SVP & Managing Director, Disney Interactive Media Group EMEA at disney. Spent roughly 15 years at The Walt Disney Company, including Managing Director of Walt Disney International, UK and Ireland from 2001.
- 2009-11-01 — Executive Director of Digital Entertainment at virgin-media. Led the launch of Virgin Media's next-generation pay-TV platform powered by TiVo, plus Virgin TV Anywhere in 2012.
- 2013-01-01 — Managing Director, UK Consumer division at vodafone. Oversaw Vodafone UK's launch of home broadband (Vodafone Connect, 2015) and the expansion of the UK retail estate from 350 to over 500 stores.
- 2016-11-01 — Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft UK at microsoft. Appointed July 2016, took up the role November 1, 2016. Led Microsoft's UK subsidiary across enterprise, public sector, and consumer.
- 2019-03-01 — Non-Executive Director (board appointment) at wpp. Joined the WPP plc board, holding the seat through to her elevation to CEO in 2025.
- 2020-10-01 — President, Microsoft Western Europe at microsoft. Promoted from UK CEO to lead Microsoft's Western Europe region; held the role until succeeded by Joacim Damgard in April 2023.
- 2023-04-12 — Chief Operating Officer, Global Enterprise at microsoft. Took on a global role focused on Microsoft's largest enterprise customers, helping them apply digital technology and AI to business transformation.
- 2025-09-01 — Chief Executive Officer at wpp. Succeeded Mark Read; based across WPP's London and New York offices. Unveiled Elevate28 in February 2026 — restructuring WPP into four operating units (WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production, WPP Enterprise Solutions) built on the WPP Open AI platform, targeting £500m in annualized cost savings by 2028.

_This page uses only public-professional information (roles, public statements, media appearances). Personal contact details, family information, and private social handles are intentionally excluded._

## Key facts

- Took over as CEO of WPP plc on September 1, 2025, succeeding Mark Read after his seven-year tenure as chief executive. — WPP press release: https://www.wpp.com/en/news/2025/07/chief-executive-officer-appointment
- Joined Microsoft in 2016 as Chief Executive of Microsoft UK, was promoted to President of Microsoft Western Europe in October 2020, and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer, Global Enterprise. — Microsoft News Centre: https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2016/06/30/microsoft-appoints-cindy-rose-chief-executive-officer-microsoft-uk/
- Has served on WPP's board as a non-executive director since 2019, giving her insider familiarity with the holding company before being elevated to CEO. — WPP board appointment release: https://www.wpp.com/en/news/2019/03/wpp-appoints-microsoft-uk-ceo-cindy-rose-obe-to-the-board
- Inherits a turnaround agenda after WPP lost the roughly $1.7 billion Mars media account to Publicis and cut its full-year outlook on July 9, 2025, with the stock down approximately 47% year-to-date at the time of her appointment. — Fortune: https://fortune.com/europe/2025/07/10/wpp-microsoft-executive-cindy-rose-ceo-in-turnaround-push/
- Awarded an OBE in the 2019 Queen's New Year Honours for services to UK technology; dual British and American citizen splitting her time between WPP's London and New York offices. — Wikipedia (biographical reference): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Rose


## Related

- wpp (current employer (CEO)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/wpp/
- mark read (predecessor as WPP CEO (2018–2025)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/mark-read/
- microsoft (former employer (2016–2025; UK CEO, Western Europe President, Global Enterprise COO)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/microsoft/
- publicis (principal holding-company competitor (won the Mars account from WPP in 2025)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/publicis/
- omnicom (major holding-company competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/omnicom/


## External coverage

- 2025-07-10 — WPP plc: Chief Executive Officer Appointment (https://www.wpp.com/en/news/2025/07/chief-executive-officer-appointment)
- 2025-07-10 — Fortune: WPP names Microsoft executive Rose as CEO in turnaround push (https://fortune.com/europe/2025/07/10/wpp-microsoft-executive-cindy-rose-ceo-in-turnaround-push/)
- 2025-07-11 — Digiday: Who is Cindy Rose, WPP's insider-outsider pick for its next CEO? (https://digiday.com/media-buying/who-is-cindy-rose-wpps-insider-outsider-pick-for-its-next-ceo/)
- 2025-07-11 — The Drum: Cindy Rose is the WPP CEO nobody saw coming — can she also pull off a shock turnaround? (https://www.thedrum.com/news/2025/07/11/cindy-rose-the-wpp-ceo-nobody-saw-coming-can-she-also-pull-shock-turnaround)
- 2016-06-30 — Microsoft News Centre UK: Microsoft Appoints Cindy Rose as UK Chief Executive Officer (https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2016/06/30/microsoft-appoints-cindy-rose-chief-executive-officer-microsoft-uk/)
- 2019-03-01 — WPP plc: WPP appoints Microsoft UK CEO, Cindy Rose OBE, to the Board (https://www.wpp.com/en/news/2019/03/wpp-appoints-microsoft-uk-ceo-cindy-rose-obe-to-the-board)
- Ad Age: Inside WPP's new business strategy under Cindy Rose (https://adage.com/agencies/aa-wpp-new-business-cindy-rose/)
- 2026-02-01 — WPP plc: Strategy Update and 2025 Preliminary Results (https://www.wpp.com/en/news/2026/02/strategy-update-and-2025-preliminary-results)
- 2026-02-01 — AdExchanger: WPP Braces For Big Change, As New CEO Cindy Rose Says It Will Ditch The Holdco Label (https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/wpp-braces-for-big-change-as-new-ceo-cindy-rose-says-it-will-ditch-the-holdco-label/)

## Profile
Cindy Rose is the third chief executive in WPP's modern history and the first woman to hold the role. Her appointment, announced July 10, 2025 and effective September 1, 2025, was widely read across the industry as a bet on AI-fluent enterprise leadership over a traditional agency operator — Rose spent the prior nine years inside Microsoft's enterprise organization, not on the agency side of the holding-company business she now leads.

That outsider-with-insider-tenure framing matters. Rose has sat on WPP's board since 2019, so she is not parachuting in cold; she inherits a company she has been governing through a turbulent stretch that included the loss of the roughly $1.7 billion Mars media account to Publicis and a stock down roughly 47% year-to-date when the appointment was announced. Her remit, by the company's own framing and analyst read-throughs, is to stem client losses, simplify the holding-company architecture, and credibly position WPP for the AI-driven reshaping of how creative and media work get bought.

For our coverage, Rose is a recurring node: she shows up in any story about WPP's restructuring, agency-holdco competitive dynamics with Publicis and Omnicom, and the broader question of whether enterprise-software leadership translates into agency turnaround execution.

## Tags

- executive
- ceo
- agency-holding-companies
- wpp
- ad-industry-leadership
- ai-in-advertising
- microsoft-alumni

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