Sir Martin Sorrell is Chief Executive
of WPP Group plc, a post he has held since founding the Company
in 1986. Over this period, WPP has become one of the world's
leading communications services companies. The Group is a
member of the FTSE-100, FTSE-Eurotop 300, the MSCI and BusinessWeek's
Global 1000 companies.
WPP's 90 operating companies provide national, multi-national
and global clients with advertising,
media investment management, information and consultancy,
public relations and public affairs, branding and identity,
healthcare and specialist communications services. The Group
employs 64,000 people in 1400 offices in 103 countries. Clients
include more than 300 of the Fortune Global 500 and over
half of the Nasdaq 100.
Before founding WPP, Martin Sorrell held
a number of positions. From 1977 to 1984, he was Group Finance
Director of the advertising agency group, Saatchi & Saatchi
Company PLC and was instrumental in planning and implementing
its international expansion. His background also includes
working
as business and financial advisor to British food retail
entrepreneur James Gulliver and with the Mark McCormack Organisation
in London, where he managed the commercial and financial
affairs of sports personalities and celebrities. Martin Sorrell
began his career as a marketing associate with Glendinning
Associates of Westport, Connecticut.
An economics graduate of Cambridge University
with an MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business
Administration, he actively supports the advancement of international
Business Schools. In 2001 he received an Honorary Doctorate
in Business Administration from London Guildhall University.
He is Deputy Chairman and Governor of London Business School
and a member of the Advisory Boards of both the Judge Institute
for Management Studies in Cambridge, UK and IESE in Spain.
He is also a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Boston
University. In 1998, he was appointed to the Board of Directors
of Associates of Harvard Business School and to the Board
of the Indian School of Business. In addition he is a Trustee
of the Cambridge Foundation and a Patron of Cambridge Alumni
in Management, a Trustee of the Royal College of Art Foundation,
and is a member of the Corporate Advisory Group of The Tate
Gallery. He is also a Patron of the Queen Charlotte's Appeal
at Hammersmith Hospital; and a non-executive director of
Colefax & Fowler. In January 2001 he was appointed a
member of the NASDAQ Board.
In 1997, he was
appointed an Ambassador for British Business by the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office and subsequently appointed to the Office's Panel
2000 aimed at rebranding Britain abroad. In 1999 he was
appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment
to serve on the Council for Excellence in Management and
Leadership and this year was appointed a member of the
Committee for the Special Olympics, serving on the Board.
He was Knighted in the Millennium New Year Honours list.
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