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Krystal Olivieri has unexpectedly exited her role as North America CEO of Choreograph, GroupM’s data and technology organization. A source close to the situation confirmed Olivieri’s departure, and that the organization is now searching for a new leader to replace her.
Before becoming CEO in May 2021, Olivieri served as Choreograph and GroupM’s global chief innovation officer. In 2020, she was named among the annual list of Adweek 50 honorees. Having been at WPP since 2015, she’s credited with developing the media practice’s Data Ethics Compass, which it launched in February 2021. As innovation lead, she also managed GroupM’s global strategy and partnerships.
Before joining WPP, Olivieri was at Omnicom Media Group, where she worked on business development.
The former CEO did not respond to Adweek’s request for comment.
Olivieri’s departure comes as GroupM continues to weather hard times. Last month, GroupM North America CEO Kirk McDonald stepped down. In March, Amanda Richman left her role as NA CEO of the media agency Mindshare.
GroupM’s many challenges
It’s been a tough new business year for GroupM media agencies, as the group’s revenue paled compared to its competitors and it lost clients to some of the biggest new business reviews of the year. The list of lucrative account losses includes Pfizer, Shell, Uber, Walgreens, L’Oreal, General Mills and Kimberly Clark.
At the beginning of this year, the group merged its largest media agency, MediaCom, with its digital-first agency, Essence. It also formalized a new organizational structure, which featured Choreograph at the top, a new media activation layer in the middle called GroupM Nexus, and the three media agencies at the bottom.
Choreograph created the NA CEO role in 2021, and announced it when it promoted Olivieri. “This newly created role advances GroupM’s directive to better leverage scale to innovate, differentiate and create sustained value for clients through homegrown products and offerings,” GroupM representatives wrote in a statement at the time.
