(Reuters) -BT Group’s outgoing boss Philip Jansen has been approached about becoming the next chair of advertising group WPP, replacing Roberto Quarta, Sky News reported on Monday.
Quarta has been the chairman of WPP, the British company, whose agencies include Ogilvy, since 2015.
Last year, BT, Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile provider, appointed Allison Kirkby as chief executive to replace Jansen, effective from around the end of this month.
BT had previously said Jansen would remain as CEO until Kirkby took over, and he would be available to support the handover until the end of March, at which point he intended to retire from executive life.
WPP’s search was not yet at an advanced stage and there was no certainty that Jansen or WPP would decide to push his candidacy further, the Sky News report added.
WPP declined to comment on the Sky News report. The creative agency said a recruitment process was underway to find Quarta’s successor, as previously disclosed.
BT did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
WPP was expected to pick a chairperson from outside the ranks of its existing board members, who include the former Burberry chief Angela Ahrendts and Tom Ilube, the chair of the Rugby Football Union, Sky News said, citing people familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely, Andrew Heavens and Diane Craft)
