Profile: John O'Keeffe

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If he hadn’t almost caused a nuclear disaster, John O’Keeffe might not be in advertising.

In the early ’80s, O’Keeffe, WPP Group’s newly named London-based worldwide cd, was working at an electronics company when he sent an order of malfunctioning switches to a South African nuclear plant. Luckily, the mistake was discovered before any damage was done.

“I didn’t obliterate South Africa in a mushroom cloud, but I did come close,” says O’Keeffe, looking back at the mishap with trademark humor.

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