-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Alexander Schmidt-Vogel, worldwide CEO of WPP's MediaCom, has been named global CEO of GroupM Trading, a new position at the holding company arm that oversees MindShare, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Maxus.

Schmidt-Vogel will lead buying activity and develop best practices for clients that purchase ads on a global basis, GroupM said.

Steve Allan, head of GroupM in the U.K., is in talks with the company to replace Schmidt-Vogel as worldwide CEO at MediaCom, according to sources. GroupM said simply that Schmidt-Vogel would move into his new role "in the coming weeks pending confirmation of his successor at MediaCom."

Schmidt-Vogel, who had held the global MediaCom CEO post since 2002, will report to worldwide CEO Irwin Gotlieb. "Alexander pioneered tactical and implementation planning practices and was the first to exploit the capability to improve client pricing in the marketplace," said Gotlieb in a statement. "We are delighted that he has agreed to lead GroupM's trading operations around the world."

Schmidt-Vogel was the founding manager of Mediacom in Germany when Grey launched the media-buying entity there 22 years ago. He started his career with Grey in 1976. He was named CEO of MediaCom Germany in 1988 and was promoted to CEO of MediaCom Europe in 1996.

"After 32 years with the company, and after 22 years building the MediaCom network around the globe, I feel a tremendous passion for this new challenge,"  said Schmidt-Vogel.