(Reuters) -Britain's WPP named board member Cindy Rose as the advertising group's new chief executive on Thursday, tasking the senior Microsoft executive with leading its recovery after she succeeds Mark Read on September 1.

Rose, 59, who has both British and American citizenship, is a graduate of Columbia University and New York Law School and has been a non-executive director on the WPP board since 2019.

Here is a breakdown of her career and some milestones:

MICROSOFT :

* Spent nine years in senior leadership roles

* February 2023 - Present: Chief Operating Officer, Global Enterprise Sales

* October 2020 - February 2023: President, Microsoft Western Europe

* July 2016 - October 2020: Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft UK

* 2019 - helped lead a government study into the competitiveness of the UK's technology sector

* The same year, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), awarded by the UK government

VODACOM UK :

* October 2013 - May 2016: Managing Director, Consumer Division

VIRGIN MEDIA:

* November 2009 - June 2013: Executive Director, Digital Entertainment

DISNEY:

* Spent 15 years in various roles

* September 2007 - November 2009: Senior Vice President & Managing Director, EMEA, at Disney Interactive Media Group

* September 2001 - September 2007: Senior Vice President & Regional Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Southern Europe & Middle East at the Walt Disney Company

* October 1998 - September 2001: Vice President Legal & Government Relations

OTHERS:

Rose served as a director at Informa between April 2014 and May 2019, and Talkmobile between July 2014 and April 2016.