Hasta La Creative!

As soon as Tamara Ingram became JWT’s new global chairman/CEO following the March resignation of Gustavo Martinez, she let the world know that “diversity and inclusion will be at the top of my agenda … [because] companies don’t value women enough.”

According to AdAge’s sources, she already made good on that promise by planning a Diversity and Inclusion Council.

AdAge’s report includes several interesting details:

• Ingram announced the Council in an internal video
• The agency has partnered with consulting firm inQUEST to act as an objective third party reviewing its efforts on this front
• Ingram will also launch a “talk to me” hotline for employees who feel threatened or uncomfortable about “certain issues”

Perhaps most surprisingly, JWT chief talent officer Laura Agostini–who played a central role in the Erin Johnson lawsuit and allegedly declined to act on Johnson’s repeated complaints about Martinez’s behavior–will retain her position.

JWT also hired former Y&R chief talent officer Celia Berk to fill the newly-created role of chief employee engagement officer while simultaneously acting as group talent partner within the larger WPP organization. Her LinkedIn profile describes the new gigs as such:

As Chief Employee Experience Officer, reports to the CEO and focuses on ensuring the work lives of JWT employees are as rewarding as possible.

As Group Talent Partner, reports to WPP’s Chief Client Team Officer and works with the company’s 45 global account teams to advance WPP’s strategic focus on “horizontality.”

According to the AdAge story (and yes, they definitely scooped us on this), Ingram released an internal video in which she essentially repeated the same points in the U.K. appearance linked atop this post regarding the importance of “represent[ing] all people,” including every member of JWT’s own staff.

An agency spokesperson referred us to WPP’s PR firm Finsbury, which has not provided any comment at the time of this post. It would certainly seem like someone within the agency spoke to AdAge, but there’s no official statement or rollout yet.

Expect to hear more next week.