Clark has been the global president and chief executive of Omnicom-owned DDB since 2016, and prior to that was president of sparkling brands and strategic marketing at Coca-Cola.

Clark will lead a team of 42,000 employees when she joins Dentsu Aegis Network in September, and will also be appointed executive officer of Dentsu Group.

She reports to executive chairman Tim Andree, who has been holding the chief executive role since Jerry Buhlmann left the business at the end of 2018.

The appointment follows parent company Dentsu’s restructure to a pure holding company structure at the start of the year, with the launch of Dentsu Japan Network to run the group’s operations in Japan. London-headquartered Dentsu Aegis Network oversees all business outside of Japan.

Andree, who led the search process, said: “With her combined experience of walking in the shoes of the client, coupled with her leadership in running a large global creative agency network, Wendy is the stand-out choice for the role. Her experience is hugely complementary to DAN’s growth plans over the coming decade where Dentsu’s long-standing history of client-centricity combined with an ability to deliver fully integrated solutions will be critical.”