- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK  WPP Group has confirmed that Miles Young will succeed Shelly Lazarus as worldwide CEO of The Ogilvy Group, effective Jan. 1.

Young, 53, has been chairman of Ogilvy's Asia-Pacific region since 1995. Lazarus, 60, will remain as worldwide chairman of the group, which includes Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne and other subsidiaries. She has been CEO since 1996 and added the title of chairman in 1997.

"Shelly has done a fantastic job as brand guardian of Ogilvy, building a first-class client roster and driving the company to fully embrace integrated marketing," said WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, in a statement. "She'll be an extremely difficult act to follow and we are delighted she will continue to focus, as chairman of The Ogilvy Group, on developing Ogilvy's client relationships."

As head of Ogilvy's Asia-Pacific region, Young was based mainly in Hong Kong. Before that, he was European regional director of what was then known as Ogilvy & Mather Direct in London. Young joined the agency in 1983.

"Miles brings to the role of CEO a deep understanding, not only of European and Asian markets, but also of the role that new technologies -- and integrated thinking -- bring to our business," Sorrell said.

Ogilvy's Asia-Pacific operation is seen as a leader among its peers, serving both multi-national and local clients, including Lenovo, IBM, China Mobile and Motorola. In the past five years, revenue from the regional operation has nearly doubled to $500 million, according to WPP.

"I love Miles Young. I have worked in partnership with him for years," said Lazarus, in a statement. "He has a simple mandate: to do for Ogilvy Worldwide what he has managed to do so brilliantly for Ogilvy Asia."

Lazarus, who has worked at Ogilvy since 1971, is known for cultivating relationships with clients at the highest levels and maintaining the client-centric culture of agency founder David Ogilvy.

Sources expect her to play an integral role as chairman, as Young, a Briton, enters the U.S market for the first time. The agency's top clients include IBM, American Express, Unilever, Nestle, Motorola and Ford.

This story updates an item posted earlier today with WPP's confirmation and additional quotes and information.