WPP’s GroupM-owned digital media business Xaxis has appointed Claire Kjaer-Nielsen as vp, global people lead to head up its global strategy for employee recruiting, retention and development.
Kjaer-Nielsen was formerly human resources director at The Walt Disney Company, leading HR for the UK and was part of the EMEA marketing leadership team and the EMEA HR leadership teams, which worked across all Disney brands. Before that, she led HR projects across EMEA and China at both Disney and in her previous role at RBS International. She began her career as HR manager at American Water.
As part of the Xaxis global executive committee, Kjaer-Nielsen will work with the Xaxis global leadership team and larger GroupM community to conceive and develop talent management strategies for the group, which includes culture management, leadership development and a diversity and inclusion program.
Kjaer-Nielsen will report to Nicolas Bidon, global CEO at Xaxis, who said in a statement: “Developing best-in-class, innovative culture and talent programs is now table stakes, which is why Xaxis is continuing to invest heavily in this area. Claire has extensive experience driving HR and culture programs for global brands and will help accelerate our mission to drive global talent retention and support the company’s roadmap for bringing on new talent in the years to come.”
Kjaer-Nielsen said that leading the HR practice for a global business like Xaxis will be a big opportunity to tackle challenges like team dynamics, inclusion and new working practices during and after the pandemic.
“Xaxis’ continuing mission to put talent and culture at the forefront of our business, along with GroupM and WPP, make this new role all the more exciting,” Kjaer-Nielsen said in a statement.
Xaxis celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year, and Adweek talked with its U.S. president Gila Wilensky about the future of the business and programmatic advertising.