-By Kamau High

NEW YORK Peter McGuinness has been named chairman and CEO of Interpublic Group's Gotham. He succeeds Gunnar Wilmot, who becomes svp, market development for IPG's McCann Worldgroup operations.

For the past two years, McGuinness was evp, regional director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and global director of consumer activation for IPG marketing company Momentum Worldwide. Based in London, he was responsible for profit and loss management, senior executive hires and client relationships in 45 offices spanning 25 countries.

McGuinness, 38, returns to New York where he will begin work on April 15. Prior to joining Momentum, he was evp, worldwide account director of McCann Erickson, in charge of the global Unilever account, and before that, the MasterCard account.
 
Asked what his plans for the agency are as chairman and CEO, McGuinness said, "I think we need to make it shinier than it is now. We need to build on its strengths and expand its offerings." McGuinness will also focus on new business. "We need to aggressively grow Gotham. The areas targeted will be technology and telecommunications."
 
The 140-person agency, which on Thursday moved into new offices in mid-town Manhattan from digs further downtown, handles accounts such as Maybelline, Bausch & Lomb and FreshDirect.