WPP loses finance chief Joanne Wilson to Diageo. She stays up to a year

Diageo named Joanne Wilson as its next chief financial officer on 23 September 2026. She replaces Nik Jhangiani at the drinks company some time in 2027.

Wilson has run the money at WPP since 2023. Her contract carries a 12-month notice period, and she stays in the job until the board finds someone to take over. WPP said it has started a formal search.

Cindy Rose loses her finance chief halfway through Elevate28

The timing is awkward for WPP. Chief executive Cindy Rose is in the first phase of Elevate28, the group’s plan to stop the slide. In August WPP reported second-quarter revenue less pass-through costs down 2.8% to £2.49 billion, and the first half down 4.7% to £4.75 billion. It has also said up to 1,000 more roles will go by the end of the year.

Rose thanked Wilson for helping sharpen the group’s financial discipline. Campaign reported the statement on 24 September.

Wilson ran finance at Britvic and Tesco before WPP

Wilson’s route to WPP ran through consumer companies. She spent three and a half years as finance chief at Britvic, the soft drinks maker, and close to nine years at Tesco, where she ended up running mergers and acquisitions. She also worked at dunnhumby, the customer data business, and trained as an accountant at KPMG. Diageo chief executive Sir Dave Lewis said she will help speed up the company’s recovery.

Wilson’s successor inherits the Coca-Cola win and the job cuts

WPP has kept chasing big accounts during the slide, as when it took Coca-Cola’s international media account. Whoever replaces Wilson takes on those contracts together with the cost cuts.

Wilson’s notice runs out by late September 2027 at the latest. The open question is whether WPP fills the seat from inside its own finance team, which would signal steady hands, or brings in an outsider with a mandate to cut deeper before that date.