WPP Media Appoints Winnie Chen-Head as Malaysia CEO

WPP Media has appointed Winnie Chen-Head as CEO for Malaysia, effective 6 May 2026. The move brings a seasoned cross-sector executive into the top role at one of the country's largest media agency networks.

Chen-Head comes with over 24 years of experience spanning e-commerce, aviation, telecommunications, tech startups, and media agencies. Her career has centered on strategy, operations, and building new capabilities rather than pure commercial management.

She has held senior roles at Omnicom and Dentsu, and most recently served as Head of Product, Strategy and Innovation at Mindshare, a WPP Media agency brand. That last role is telling: it was a product and innovation position, not a revenue-focused one, which signals the kind of transformation agenda WPP Media has in mind for Malaysia.

A Return to Familiar Ground

Chen-Head describes the appointment as a homecoming. Her formative years in media were spent in Malaysia, and that grounding shapes how she frames the opportunity ahead.

"I'm delighted to be returning to the WPP network and helping to shape the next chapter together with my colleagues in Malaysia," she said. "My formative media agency years were spent here, and that experience provided me with not just a strong foundation, but a deep respect and genuine affection for what makes this place special. The people, the ambition, and the craft. That connection has stayed with me, and I feel both energised and personally invested in this next phase of transformation."

That personal investment matters in a market like Malaysia, where agency culture and client relationships are built over years, not quarters.

What the Appointment Says About WPP's Direction

Chen-Head reports into Helen McRae, who serves as CEO of WPP Media's newly formed SEAPAT cluster covering Southeast Asia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Taiwan. McRae made clear that this hire was about more than filling a seat.

"Winnie's passion for media and our clients' limitless potential for growth in the region set her apart as an inspirational leader," McRae said. "She is a strong advocate for rigor and craft and has a unique ability to drive marketing integration across media, culture, and creativity. Her energy and expertise will be instrumental in helping us to deliver intelligent growth and unparalleled value to our clients in the region."

The SEAPAT structure itself is newly created. Chen-Head is one of the first market CEOs hired under it, which means she is not inheriting an established system. She will help define how the regional framework operates in practice.

The Broader Shift in Malaysian Agency Leadership

This appointment lands during an unusually active period for executive transitions across Malaysia's media and marketing industry. Several major holding groups have changed top leadership in Kuala Lumpur over the past 12 months, part of a wider reshuffling triggered in part by the completion of Omnicom's acquisition of IPG in December 2025. That merger moved talent across the market and created openings that competitors were quick to fill.

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Mission MediaMission Media

Chen-Head's own path reflects this dynamic directly. Her background at three of the four major holding groups operating in Malaysia gives her a breadth of competitive perspective that few market CEOs can claim.

WPP Media itself is mid-transition, having rebranded from GroupM to WPP Media in 2024. The rebrand, which affects a global workforce of roughly 40,000 people, represents a shift to a single profit-and-loss structure with the agency's brands including Mindshare, Wavemaker, and EssenceMediacom operating under one roof and one voice in the market.

Chen-Head steps into that integration as both participant and architect.