Directorate Change

WPP Group PLC
29 January 2003


For Immediate Release                                            29 January 2003




                             WPP GROUP PLC ("WPP")



                                 Board Changes



WPP announces that with effect from 28 January 2003 Sir Christopher Lewinton and
Warren Hellman will retire as non-executive directors.



At the same time, David H. Komansky is appointed a non-executive director and
Howard Paster a director of WPP.



Mr. Komansky is chairman of the board of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc, having served
as chief executive officer from 1996 to 2002 . He began his career at Merrill
Lynch in 1968 as a financial consultant and held a succession of management
positions in the company's retail brokerage group, including director of
National Sales. In 1985, Mr. Komansky was appointed president and chief
executive officer of Merrill Lynch Realty/Fine Homes International, and from
1988 to 1995, served as executive vice president responsible for the company's
Global Equity Markets, Debt Markets, and combined Debt and Equity Markets,
respectively. In 1995, he was named president and chief operating officer of the
company.



Among many professional affiliations, Mr. Komansky serves as vice chairman of
the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, as a director of
Schering-Plough Corp., and as a member of the International Advisory Board of
the BritishAmerican Business Council.  Active in many civic and charitable
organizations, Mr. Komansky serves on the boards of New York Presbyterian
Hospital, the American Museum of Natural History and the New York City Police
Foundation. He is a trustee of Tsinghua University in Beijing, People's Republic
of China, where he also serves on the university's Executive Education Advisory
Board.



Howard Paster, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hill & Knowlton,
Inc, a WPP company, joined the WPP parent company in August 2002 in the new role
of executive vice president, public relations / public affairs, overseeing WPP's
portfolio of public relations and public affairs businesses. Prior to joining
the WPP Group, he served as assistant to President Clinton and director of the
White House Office of Legislative Affairs. He is a member of the board of
trustees of Tuskegee University, president of the Little League Foundation and a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations.



For further information, contact:


Feona McEwan, WPP                                Tel:  (London) [phone]
www.wpp.com




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