WPP Media Appoints Laura Ryan Chief Media Officer
WPP Media has appointed Laura Ryan as chief media officer, with oversight of global investment, partnerships, media management and activation. She reports to Brian Lesser, chief executive of WPP Media.
- Role: chief media officer, WPP Media
- Scope: global investment, partnerships, media management and activation
- Reports to: Brian Lesser, chief executive, WPP Media
- Works with: Adam Gerhart, Lauren Wetzel, and client and technology leaders across the business
- Previously: at IPG, most recently as global chief executive of Orion Worldwide from April 2022 to June 2026
- Before that: global president, global client officer, US president and other senior roles at Orion, which she joined in March 2011
What Laura Ryan Takes On
The part of a media group where the money actually moves. Investment, partnerships and activation sit together in this remit, which means the same person is accountable for what is bought, who it is bought from and how it runs. Holding those three under one seat is a structural choice as much as a personnel one.
Brian Lesser said Ryan knows how to connect client needs with new capabilities and bring people together to make it happen.
Why The Orion Background Matters
Because Orion is a media trading business, and fifteen years inside one is an unusual grounding for this job. The commercial mechanics of how a holding company buys, what it commits to and what it gets back are learned in that seat rather than in client service, and she rose through it from client services to global chief executive.
The move also crosses from IPG into WPP at a moment when both groups are rebuilding what a media network sells, which makes the hire worth reading as a statement about capability rather than headcount.