Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) has made a number of senior management changes, headlined by Philippe Krakowsky being promoted to its chief operating officer. Krakowsky, 57, has served as IPG’s chief strategy and talent officer for over a decade and will continue in those capacities. In his new role at the holding company, Krakowsky will work with chairman and CEO Michael Roth to oversee business operations across Interpublic. In addition to continuing in his position as chairman of Mediabrands, Krakowsky will have oversight of Acxiom, Carmichael Lynch, Deutsch, Hill Holliday, Huge, and R/GA.
Michael I. Roth, IPG’s Chairman and CEO, commented, “For more than a decade, Philippe has played a key part in major strategic actions at Interpublic that have been integral to our long-term success, and more recently he was the driving force behind our acquisition of Acxiom. He has helped me in the design and execution of our cross agency ‘open architecture’ model that delivers the best of IPG solutions to our clients. He has also been instrumental in helping create IPG’s distinctive culture, which attracts the industry’s best talent.”
Additionally, Daryl Lee will become the CEO of IPG Mediabrands, a post held by Krakowsky for the past three years. Eileen Kiernan is elevated to global CEO of UM, succeeding Lee.
For 20 of the last 22 financial quarters, IPG has outperformed the industry on the key metric of organic revenue growth, with IPG Mediabrands playing a leading role in driving this growth. During that period, UM has been a significant factor of that success, winning a series of high-profile industry pitches. Additionally, Initiative has been an important part of Mediabrands’ success, with major wins and retentions. The leadership position of Cadreon as a provider of programmatic technology solutions has also helped drive growth for Mediabrands, as has the digital and performance media offering at Reprise, all supplemented by Orion, and MAGNA’s negotiation and intelligence units.
On Lee, 48, the new CEO of IPG Mediabrands, Roth commented: “Daryl is one of our industry’s top business strategists, with experience as a management consultant, at creative agencies, as well as in the media sector. He is relentlessly client-focused, and has consistently proven that he and his teams can identify insights-driven, creative solutions for marketers’ most challenging problems. Daryl’s great passion for the business inspires his people to do their best work, and he has consistently shown himself to be a true champion for diversity and inclusion, a core IPG value.”
On Kiernan, 49, most recently the global president of J3, the dedicated media unit within UM responsible for Johnson & Johnson, Roth commented: “Eileen’s clients have called her courageous, trustworthy, humble and relentless. Eileen delivers creative vision for her clients, as well as operational excellence. This combination of strategic and pragmatic thinking is what sets Eileen apart as an effective leader.”
Having all risen through the leadership ranks of the company, these executives have over 35 years of combined experience at IPG. Prior to joining Interpublic, these three leaders had worked across various agencies and business sectors, and garnered significant industry recognition.
Philippe Krakowsky
Since joining IPG in 2002, Krakowsky has implemented major strategic actions that have helped us become an industry leader. These include the decision to embed digital and emerging media capabilities across the group’s portfolio, and the creation of both Mediabrands and IPG’s Healthcare Council, which he chairs. In 2018, Philippe was the key architect of IPG’s $2.3 billion acquisition of Acxiom, the data and solutions company that has developed one of the world’s most extensive consumer data assets, and is as importantly known for its leadership in data privacy and data ethics.
Additionally, Krakowsky is responsible for designing many of the integrated, cross-agency client teams that have become a hallmark of Interpublic’s success and oversees talent management, training and development, benefits and IPG’s industry-leading D&I initiatives. He has served on the boards of several IPG companies, including Huge and the IPG-backed O’Keefe Reinhardt & Paul; he mentors start-ups as part of R/GA’s Accelerator; and he served as interim CEO of FCB for much of 2013, during the agency’s leadership transition. He also oversees IPG’s business development and corporate communications functions.
Prior to IPG, Krakowsky led the differentiation of Young & Rubicam in the marketplace during its transformation to a public company. Previously, he led the positioning for BBDO when that agency carved out a niche as one of advertising’s premier global creative networks.
Krakowsky started his career as part of the team that built and ultimately sold an artificial intelligence software company to Apple Computer. He’s been inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s “Hall of Achievement.”
Daryl Lee
Lee originally joined UM in 2006, as the head of global strategy. During that time, he built the Communications Planning Practice across global clients including Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Microsoft and Sony. He then moved to McCann Worldgroup holding the roles of global chief integration architect and global chief strategy officer where he was responsible for working across all McCann offices to ensure clients received integrated brand solutions customized to their business challenges. He returned to UM in the role of global CEO.
Prior to IPG, Lee spent six years at Ogilvy, where he was group director of the Marketing Strategy Group and the 360 strategy director for the global IBM account. Lee began his career as a consultant for McKinsey & Company in the New York office.
A champion for positive social change and diversity in the world and the workplace, Lee is a former board member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), is the outgoing chair of the Global Board of Directors of Effie Worldwide, served on the inaugural jury for the Creative Effectiveness Cannes Lions and as a juror on Cannes Media Lions.
Eileen Kiernan
In here previous role as global president, J3, Kiernan led UM’s dedicated Johnson & Johnson media unit, an independent, integrated full-service media unit around the world. J3 is a world-class offering designed to incubate what’s next in
media and communications as it delivers excellence on current campaigns.
Prior to taking on a global leadership role at J3, Kiernan was the global chief marketing officer for UM, where she worked across all clients and disciplines globally to strengthen and enhance UM’s product offering to ensure the UM brand vision evolved in meaningful ways. Kiernan also has 15+ years of publishing experience, having held senior positions at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Time Inc.
Kiernan has worked on a number of internationally recognized efforts, including Coca-Cola’s Arctic Home global initiative and 2012 Cannes Lions winner “Coca-Cola Polar Bowl.” She’s served as a juror for award ceremonies around the world, including Cannes Media Lions and Festival of Media Global.
