(Bloomberg) -- WPP Plc said that Philip Jansen, former chief executive officer of UK telecommunications company BT Group Plc, will become chairman in January.
Jansen, 57, will succeed Roberto Quarta who’s been with the advertising group for almost a decade, WPP said in a statement on Tuesday. Jansen will join the company’s board in September.
WPP is restructuring its stable of advertising brands to save costs and announced a plan to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to invest in new technologies and support building out artificial intelligence capabilities.
As the boss of BT, Jansen aggressively streamlined the business during his five-year tenure. Before announcing his intention to step down last year, Jansen unveiled a plan to cut as many as 55,000 jobs at BT by the end of the decade, and had focused the British telecom’s resources on building out a more advanced fiber network.
Jansen had also held roles leading payments provider Worldpay and began his career at consumer goods company Procter & Gamble.
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