He will take over from Gary Goldsmith, who has not revealed where he is moving to. In US reports, Wnek said that taking up the role at Interpublic's Lowe in New York is a sort of homecoming -- he previously worked for Lowe Howard Spink in London during the 1990s.
"I'm ready for a new challenge and excited to be part of the new management team that Tony [Wright, global CEO] has put in place," he said.
Wnek was formerly chief creative officer and co-chairman of Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper, as it was then known, but he quit the agency in November 2003. In January 2004, he set up Ben Mark Orlando with Ben Langdon, former chief executive of McCann Erickson, but only 10 weeks later Langdon quit the start-up to take the role of chairman of Euro RSCG London -- the job Wnek had quit.
Wnek has since been writing a column on advertising for The Independent newspaper, and reportedly has been in talks with a number of agencies about a US role.
He joins Lowe at a difficult time, when the agency is in the middle of a restructure following a string of account losses, including Braun and HSBC.
Tony Wright, global CEO of Lowe, has been shoring up the London office with a number of senior appointments including former Grey London chief executive Garry Lace; Chris Hunton, former chief executive of McCann Erickson, as managing director; and M&C Saatchi's group marketing director Judy Mitchem as chief marketing officer.
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