Chris Cashen has been appointed as group head of strategy at GroupM Ireland.

The Mindshare managing partner and IAPI vice president will have responsibility for strategy and leadership across GroupM's brands: Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom and Invention.

Cashen joined Mindshare in 2019 and has previously worked for Javelin, Carat and McConnells.

GroupM said it has been building the structure around its strategy team since recent research showed that CMOs prioritise strategy, marketing effectiveness and measurement from the marketing and agency teams.

“Further investment into strategic talent is a no brainer for us,” says Bill Kinlay, CEO of GoupM Ireland. 

"Increasingly, this area is making a key difference for our clients business and making a massive contribution to client growth.

"The team is now in great shape to increase their impact across a greater portfolio of our clients.”

GroupM has also appointed Wavemaker's Zoe Chandler to its strategy team as strategy manager.

Chandler has worked with Wavemaker for the past four years and was recently accepted into IAPI and Marketing Society’s STEPS mentoring program. 

She joins former Media Award’s Rising Star winner Ciara O’Connor and strategy director Lina Meshael, formerly of Dentsu, on the strategy team.

“Bringing Zoe into our strategy team makes perfect sense," Cashen said of Chandler's appointment.

"Too often, we have waited for someone to grow into prominence in client leadership before considering them for strategic positions.

"That increasingly made less sense to us, and we want to work with Zoe to sharpen the obvious strategic skillset as part of the group offering.”

Photo: (l-r) Chris Cashen and Bill Kinlay.