Sanja Partalo

Sanja is a SVP, Corporate Strategy & Digital Development at WPP, the world's largest marketing services company, operating in 112 countries with $20bn in revenues. Sanja is responsible for developing & executing WPP's growth strategy through creation of new digital capabilities, minority investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

Sanja leads WPP's strategic partnerships with all major digital platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Adobe, Salesforce and Amazon. She sources and evaluates strategic investments across emerging media, adtech & martech, and leads commercial partnerships between WPP's venture investment portfolio and operating companies. Sanja runs WPP Digital Advisory Board and builds internal communities and investment cases around key digital transformation topics, such as application of artificial intelligence and voice platforms to marketing and commerce. She serves on the boards of Fatherly and SubVRsive and has previously served on the board of Gimlet (acquired by Spotify) and YouEarnedIt (acquired by Vista).

Prior to joining WPP in a strategic role, Sanja was an award-winning marketer with experience across industry leading brands including Google, Coca Cola, Spotify, and Dell.

Sanja holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she serves as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and teaches a consistently oversubscribed "Brand Building in the Digital Age" course. She advises startups and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on influence of technology on media, marketing and consumer behavior.

She was born in Bosnia and came to the United States at the age of 16 through a refugee resettlement program.

Companies

• Board Of Directors, Executive Commitee Human Rights First (2019)
• Board Of Directors The Mighty (2018)
• Board of Directors Subvrsive (2018)
• Executive Vice President, Global Head of Strategic Development & Partnerships WPP (2016)
• Adjunct Professor, Marketing, Media & Technology Columbia Business School (2015)
• Board of Directors Fatherly (2017 — 2020)
• Board Of Directors Gimlet Media (2017 — 2019)
• Board Of Directors Kazoo (2017 — 2018)
• Management Consultant Independent (2016 — 2016)

Education

• MBA Columbia Business School
• B.A. magna cum laude The George Washington University