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Sharb Farjami will take the reins of North American operations GroupMthe media investment giant that is part of WPP.
Farjami had been CEO of Wavemaker in North America, one of GroupM’s large media buying units. “Sharb is a collaborative, hands-on leader and a brilliant thinker on the issues shaping the future of our industry,” GroupM Global said. CEO Christian Juhl, in a statement. “He brings a wide range of industry experience to the role, having worked on both the agency and editorial side in multiple markets around the world, and his success in leveraging the best of the GroupM platform to drive benefits for Wavemaker clients is a model for the future of our organization.”
GroupM said Farjamik has “a proven track record of expanding new media offerings, operationalizing new capabilities and leading technology that has enabled organizations to deliver competitive differentiation to clients.” Prior to joining Wavemaker, Sharb held senior leadership roles at Foxtel, News Corp and Viacom.
“GroupM is well positioned to help our clients in North America do more with their media investments, elevate the role of marketing and ultimately exceed their business objectives.” Farjami said, in a statement. “As we embark on our next phase of transformation, I feel a great privilege and responsibility to help accelerate our innovation on behalf of our customers who trust us to shape the future of our industry on their behalf.
Farjami succeeds Adam Gerhard, who had served as CEO of GroupM North America on an interim basis. North American operations have been left without a permanent executive in command. since the departure of Kirk McDonald, who joined GroupM in 2020 after a stint at the ad tech unit known as Xandr.
Farjami will continue to oversee Wavemaker in North America until a replacement is identified.
GroupM is one of the most influential media buying operations in the world and its agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom and MSix represent billions in annual media investments from major marketing companies such as Adobe, Audible, DoorDash, Google, NBCUniversal and Unilever .
