He replaces Dave Allen, who left Acxiom in January.
Whyte's remit spans France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the UK. Acxiom's UK group leader, Nick Martin, will report to Whyte.
The appointment is the latest move by Acxiom to hire agency expertise to its ranks. It recently appointed Clark M Kokich, chairman of digital agency Razorfish, to its board of directors.
Whyte will report to John Meyer, Acxiom's chief executive officer and president, who is based in the firm's Arkansas headquarters.
Meyer said Whyte's agency background meant he was "well connected in European markets" and made him "a natural" exploit Acxiom's consumer insight services to help the firms' global clients.
"The future of marketing lies with analytics-driven insight," Whyte said. "Acxiom stands apart in its ability to create this insight and add value for clients across the full marketing spectrum, from data analysis to channel optimisation to creative services and measurement."
Whyte spent four years as the chief executive of McCann Erickson between 2004 and 2008. ??Previous to that, he had been the EMEA client services director of the McCann Worldgroup, and the chief executive of Leo Burnett.
Whyte got his start as an account director at Abbott Mead Vickers PLC. He holds a BA from Oxford University and is a fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
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