# Mark J. Penn
> Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Stagwell Inc. at stagwell
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/mark-penn/
- Also known as: Mark J. Penn, Mark Penn pollster, Mark Penn Microsoft, Stagwell CEO
## Summary
Mark Penn is founder, chairman, and CEO of Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW), the Nasdaq-listed marketing holdco he created by combining The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners in August 2021. A former Microsoft chief strategy officer, Burson-Marsteller CEO, and co-founder of polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, Penn served as President Clinton's chief pollster for six years. He is among the most publicly outspoken top-five holdco CEOs.

## Profile facts

- Current title: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Stagwell Inc.
- Current company: stagwell (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/stagwell/)


## Career trajectory

- 1995-01-01 — Pollster and senior strategist. Served as pollster and senior strategist to President Bill Clinton for six years; co-founded Penn, Schoen & Berland (later PSB Research) with Douglas Schoen.
- 2001-11-15 — Sold PSB Research to WPP. Penn and partners sold the polling firm to WPP on November 15, 2001.
- 2007-01-01 — Chief strategist, Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign. Senior strategist and pollster on the campaign.
- 2007-01-01 — Author, Microtrends. Published Microtrends with Kinney Zalesne; followed by Microtrends Squared in 2018.
- 2014-03-01 — Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at microsoft. Joined Microsoft in 2012 as Corporate VP for Strategic and Special Projects; promoted to Chief Strategy Officer in 2014.
- 2015-06-01 — Founder, The Stagwell Group at stagwell. Founded after leaving Microsoft, with backing from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
- 2021-08-01 — Chairman and CEO, Stagwell Inc. (Nasdaq: STGW) at stagwell. Combined The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners in August 2021 to create the public Stagwell Inc.


## Media appearances

- 2025-06-19 — keynote: The Human Touch: Creativity Can't Be Automated — Cannes Lions main stage, Cannes Lions (https://www.canneslions.com/festival/speakers/mark-penn-s1-95582)
- 2025-06-18 — interview: PR Week special edition: Stagwell CEO Mark Penn at Cannes, PR Week (https://www.prweek.com/article/1922294/pr-week-special-edition-6182025-stagwell-ceo-mark-penn-cannes)
- 2025-06-19 — interview: Mark Penn on Sport Beach, AI at Cannes, Elon Musk, and more, Ad Age (https://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/mark-penn-sport-beach-ai-cannes-elon-musk-and-more/2565821/)
- 2025-04-15 — interview: 'The industry doesn't need another behemoth' — Stagwell CEO on Omnicom-IPG, MM+M / Marketing Dive (https://www.mmm-online.com/news/mark-penn-stagwell-ceo-on-omnicom-ipg/)

_This page uses only public-professional information: SEC-filer roles, on-the-record interviews, public keynote appearances, published books, and public-professional social profiles. No personal contact information, family details, or non-professional activity is included. No AI-generated portrait is used._

## Key facts

- Chairman and CEO of Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW), a Nasdaq-listed marketing services holding company with more than 13,000 employees and over $2 billion in annual revenue. — Stagwell — Mark Penn: https://www.stagwellglobal.com/people/mark-penn/
- Engineered the August 2021 combination of The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners that created the public Stagwell Inc.; founded The Stagwell Group in June 2015 with backing from Steve Ballmer. — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Penn
- Served as Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, with stints culminating in the chief strategy officer role in 2014–2015; managed a $2 billion advertising budget and sat on the senior leadership team. — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Penn
- Was the chief strategist and pollster to President Bill Clinton for six years and to the Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign; co-founded the polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland (later PSB Research) with Douglas Schoen, and served as CEO of public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller. — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Penn
- Author of Microtrends (2007, with Kinney Zalesne) and Microtrends Squared (2018), books on demographic and behavioral micro-trends shaping markets and politics. — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Penn
- Took the Cannes Lions main stage in June 2025 with United Airlines' Maggie Schmerin and 72andSunny's Evin Shutt to deliver 'The Human Touch: Creativity Can't Be Automated' on the Innovation Unwrapped track. — PR Newswire — Stagwell: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stagwell-stgw-chairman-and-ceo-mark-penn-to-discuss-the-irreplaceable-power-of-human-creativity-on-the-main-stage-of-cannes-lions-302476961.html
- Publicly criticized the Omnicom-IPG merger in 2025, predicting that the targeted $750M in annual synergies would translate to roughly 7,500 affected industry roles and arguing that 'the industry doesn't need another behemoth.' — MM+M: https://www.mmm-online.com/news/mark-penn-stagwell-ceo-on-omnicom-ipg/


## Related

- stagwell (Chairman and CEO) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/stagwell/
- omnicom (Public critic of the Omnicom-IPG merger) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/omnicom/
- interpublic group (Public critic of the Omnicom-IPG merger) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/interpublic-group/
- microsoft (Former Chief Strategy Officer (2014–2015)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/microsoft/


## External coverage

- Stagwell: Mark Penn — Stagwell leadership page (https://www.stagwellglobal.com/people/mark-penn/)
- MarkPenn.com: Mark Penn — personal site (https://markpenn.com/)
- 2025-04-15 — MM+M: 'The industry doesn't need another behemoth': Stagwell CEO on Omnicom-IPG (https://www.mmm-online.com/news/mark-penn-stagwell-ceo-on-omnicom-ipg/)
- Marketing Dive: Mark Penn on Stagwell's challenger status as Omnicom-IPG merger looms (https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mark-penn-on-stagwells-challenger-status-as-omnicom-ipg-merger-looms/740371/)
- Ad Age: Stagwell CEO Mark Penn defends X as ad boycott pressure mounts (https://adage.com/events-awards/cannes-lions/aa-stagwell-ceo-mark-penn-backs-x-amid-advertiser-pressure-tactics/)
- Adweek: Stagwell Sees Record New Business as Rivals Merge (https://www.adweek.com/agencies/stagwell-posts-29b-revenue-for-2025-and-predicts-record-new-business-ahead/)

## Profile
Mark Penn is one of the few public-company holdco CEOs willing to comment on rival holdco moves on the record, which makes his commentary unusually citable on industry-structure stories. The Stagwell-Inc.-as-public-challenger frame — a Nasdaq-listed group with more than 13,000 employees and over $2B in revenue, born from his August 2021 combination of The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners — gives him standing to call the Omnicom-IPG combination a misallocation, and he has used that standing.

The on-the-record Omnicom-IPG critique is the canonical recent example: Penn predicted that the targeted $750M in annual synergies would translate to roughly 7,500 affected industry roles and called the combined entity a 'behemoth' the industry didn't need. He returned to the same framing across MM+M, Marketing Dive, Adweek, and PR Week, including at Cannes Lions 2025 — where he also took the main stage on 'The Human Touch: Creativity Can't Be Automated' and used the Sport Beach activation as a Stagwell-as-challenger demonstration. The Cannes appearance also produced his on-record defense of continued advertiser presence on X.

The career arc — Penn, Schoen & Berland (PSB) co-founder, six years as President Clinton's pollster, the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign chief strategist seat, Burson-Marsteller CEO, Microsoft Chief Strategy Officer (2014–2015), then Stagwell — is a route through politics, polling, corporate strategy, and PR before the holdco seat. The Microtrends books from that polling era (Microtrends, 2007; Microtrends Squared, 2018) are the published version of the framework he still applies to consumer- and voter-segment commentary.

## Tags

- executive
- ceo
- holdco
- marketing-services
- public-company
- NASDAQ
- pollster
- author

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