# Professor Karen Brenner discusses WPP's possible search for a successor to its CEO, Martin Sorrell, who is under investigation for misuse of company funds

1 Faculty News April 4, 2018 ![AdAge logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_031780.jpg?itok=y4RJwWXu)>

Excerpt from [AdAge](http://adage.com/article/agency-news/a-day-sorrell-statement-succession-questions-business-usual/312989/) -- "Sorrell built WPP into the world's largest agency company and has not publicly identified possible successors, but that doesn't mean he's irreplaceable, suggests [Karen Brenner](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/karen-brenner), a clinical professor of business at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU. 'Think about companies where you have iconic CEOs who are so closely associated with the company,' Brenner says. Outsiders frequently believe such companies will suffer without that CEO at the helm, she says, citing the example of Steve Jobs and Apple."

[Read more](http://adage.com/article/agency-news/a-day-sorrell-statement-succession-questions-business-usual/312989/)