Global marketing agency MRM, part of McCann Worldgroup, has brought Jayna Kothary on board as its global chief technology officer. Prior to joining the 35-plus office digital and relationship marketing network, Kothary served as CTO for global clients at WPP, where she was based in the U.K. 

Kate MacNevin, global CEO of MRM, said of Kothary, “Her experience working as an agency CTO on global clients, as well as with large multi-nationals, makes her an ideal fit as we continue to expand our technology, data and e-Commerce capabilities. Technology and data science, along with strategy and creativity, are among our key expertise pillars. And she is joining us at a point when we are at a new peak in terms of integrating all of these capabilities on behalf of our clients.” 

Kothary, who began her career as a management consultant, is a qualified chartered accountant and business strategist. In her most recent role at WPP she partnered with the firm’s largest clients to help them best leverage data, technology and partnerships for business transformation. Prior to WPP, she held technology leadership roles at both Vodafone Group and BP, carrying with her an in-depth knowledge of client needs.

MRM, which this year was designated for the fourth straight year as a “Leader” in Gartner Inc.’s prestigious “Magic Quadrant for Global Marketing Agencies,” has been significantly expanding its data, analytics and technology capabilities over the last few years, both through staffing/training and through operations. It continued to grow its global MRM Commerce capabilities, created and launched four new proprietary data and analytics software programs that generate insights faster and more meaningfully for clients, further leveraged innovative partnerships with Salesforce and Adobe, opened additional international LAB13 innovation labs, and introduced expanded capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that included registering a number of patents. Additionally, the agency was recently named Agency Of The Year (Midsize) at the 2020 Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) B2 Awards. 

“Kate and her outstanding team at MRM have been setting the industry bar on how agencies can continue to innovate with technology in ways that can directly benefit client growth initiatives,” said Kothary. “I am thrilled to be able to bring my experience to bear and be a part of the team that has been driving MRM’s impressive growth and performance.”