Rob Norman

As Chief Digital Officer of GroupM Global, Rob oversees the activities of the world’s largest buyer of online media with more than $5 billion in billings. In this role, he develops the digital capabilities within GroupM while establishing thought leadership positioning in the digital space and contributing to each agency’s business development.

Prior to taking this role in 2012, Rob served as CEO of GroupM North America where he was responsible for the general management as well as strategic and administrative activities at each of GroupM’s four media agencies—Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare. He assumed that role in March 2010 after serving since 2007 as head of Group M Interaction, which included the digital offerings of each GroupM agency as well as the integrated global search organization that combines GroupM affiliates Outrider, Catalyst, and 24/7 Real Media, a position he retained while serving as GroupM North American CEO.

Rob was named a Media Maven by Advertising Age in 2007. He sits on the advisory board of WPP Digital, the venture arm of GroupM parent company WPP, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication. He also is on the board of the 4A’s, and the Ad Council and leads GroupM’s diversity efforts, including a scholarship program at City College New York.

Rob has worked for more than two decades in the media agency business in a wide range of increasingly senior roles, mostly at MEC, where he was named U.K. Chairman in 2003. He joined the company in 1986 prior to the merger, when the agency was known as CIA. Rob rose quickly through the ranks at CIA, first becoming a Group Head and then founding the company’s first joint venture media operation, which became the model for three subsequent ventures. In 2002, following the merger of CIA with Mediaedge, Rob was appointed Worldwide Director of New Business Development.

Rob lives in New York and is widely believed to be the only Englishman with a working knowledge of baseball’s infield fly rule. He is a fan of the New York Mets, the New York Jets, Tottenham Hotspur and Warren Buffett.