4A's Names GroupM's John Montgomery Chairman of Its Media Policy Committee

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) -  John Montgomery, Chief Operating Officer of GroupM Interaction, has been named chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) influential Media Policy Committee, it was announced today.

The Media Policy Committee is one of only four "board" committees -- one of which is the association's Board of Directors -- among more than 30 4A's committees. As part of his appointment, Montgomery also assumes a position on the 4A's national board.

Media Policy Committee members include almost 20 senior-level executives from a wide cross-section of media services agencies nationwide. Montgomery replaces Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO & Founder, Horizon Media Inc., who recently stepped down after serving as chairman for the past three years.

"We're very pleased to have someone with John's extensive experience serve as chairman of our Media Policy committee, one of our most important Board committees," said 4A's President-CEO Nancy Hill. "His digital background is especially welcome since so much of the media world is now -- and will continue to be -- focused on digital communications."

Montgomery is a nationally known expert in the field of digital communications. As COO of GroupM Interaction, he leads GroupM's policy and data strategy for digital marketing and communications and works closely with industry bodies in these arenas. He is also a recognized expert in Internet privacy issues and content piracy on the web.

GroupM Interaction is the digital arm of GroupM, the world's largest media investment company that serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and MindShare.

Montgomery joined Ogilvy in 1989 in South Africa as media director and launched Mindshare in that country. He also served as Managing Director of the Ogilvy Group in Cape Town, one of the most creative agencies in the Ogilvy Worldwide Network before moving to Amsterdam in 2001 as CEO of Ogilvy Group Netherlands.

In 2004 he relocated to New York to lead the Interactive media practice for Mindshare and Ogilvy and was subsequently appointed Global CEO of Mindshare Interaction in 2006.

In 2008, he took on the role of COO of GroupM Interaction for North America.

A primary responsibility of the Media Policy Committee is to review and assess the major challenges facing the media and communications industries and, when appropriate, to encourage the 4A's to take a public position on key issues. The Committee also is responsible for programming media-oriented sessions at the 4A's annual "Transformation" conference. In addition, the Committee oversees and guides other media-related 4A's committees on subjects relevant to their area of expertise. Proposals and position statements from these units must be reviewed by the Media Policy Committee before passing to the Board or to member agencies.

A photo of John Montgomery is available on request.

ABOUT THE 4A'S
The 4A's is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. Its membership comprises virtually all of the large, multinational agencies and hundreds of small and mid-sized agencies from across the country. The 1,200 member agency offices served by the 4A's employ 65,000 people, offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. The management-oriented association founded in 1917 helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry's spokesperson with government, media, and the public sector. For more information, visit the 4A's Web site at www.aaaa.org.

ABOUT GROUPM
GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation. It serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Mindshare. Our primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP's media communications agencies on behalf of our clients, our stakeholders and our people by operating as a parent and collaborator in performance-enhancing activities such as trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. The agencies that comprise GroupM are all global operations in their own right with leading market positions. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent application of physical and intellectual scale to benefit trading, innovation, and new communication services, to bring competitive advantage to our clients and our companies.