Sharb Farjami Appointed CEO, GroupM North America

NEW YORK (January 22, 2024) — GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announced the appointment of Sharb Farjami as North America (NA) CEO, effective immediately.  

Previously, Farjami served as North America CEO for GroupM agency Wavemaker where he played a key role in establishing Wavemaker as the leading performer in new business for GroupM in the region and a primary contributor to the agency’s industry leading record for global new business in 2023.   

“Sharb is a hands-on, collaborative leader and a brilliant thinker about the issues shaping the future of our industry,” said GroupM Global CEO Christian Juhl. “He brings a diverse range of industry experience to the role having worked both agency and publisher-side in multiple markets around the world and his success leveraging the best of the GroupM platform to drive advantages for Wavemaker’s clients is a model for the future of our organization.”  

With over ten years of C-suite level experience, Farjami has been driving growth for Wavemaker and its clients since joining the agency in 2021. He has a proven track record of scaling new media offerings, operationalizing new capabilities, and leading technology enabled organizations to deliver competitive differentiation for clients. Prior to joining Wavemaker, Sharb held senior leadership positions 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.” said Farjami, “As we embark on our next phase of transformation, I feel a great sense of privilege and responsibility to help accelerate our innovation on behalf of our clients who entrust us to shape the future of our industry on their behalf.” 

Farjami succeeds Mindshare’s Global CEO Adam Gerhart, who assumed additional responsibilities as Interim CEO for GroupM North America while a search was carried out to identify GroupM’s next leader for the region. Gerhart will continue to oversee Mindshare’s global agency operations. Farjami will continue to oversee Wavemaker in North America until a replacement is identified.   

“I’m extremely grateful to Adam for taking on the extra responsibility of managing one of our most important markets in addition to overseeing Mindshare’s global business,” said Juhl. “Adam is passionate about Mindshare – its team, brand, and clients – and will continue to be responsible for leading the business globally. We’re fortunate to have been able to rely on his leadership to help us close out 2023 in a strong position and glad to have him fully focused on Mindshare’s continued growth and success as we go into the year ahead.”  

GroupM is the world’s leading media investment company. In North America, GroupM and the company’s agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, and mSix&Partners represent thousands of employees in the U.S. and Canada and billions in annual media investment from many of the world’s largest and most innovative brands, including Adobe, Audible, DoorDash, Google, NBCUniversal, Unilever, and more.