Advertising agency conglomerate WPP Group plc's GroupM media management arm has tapped former Crisp Wireless executive Michael Nevins to head mobile operations for North America.

Mr. Nevins will hold the newly created post of senior partner and group director of mobile technologies for North America at GroupM. He is based in New York.

"My mandate's certainly to be an internal catalyst and fire-starter for mobile," Mr. Nevins said. "So by that I mean to be working with our account teams and brand clients to do integrated mobile campaigns.

"The other part of my mandate is to represent my company, GroupM, and its agencies to the industry at large," he said.

Mr. Nevins most recently was vice president of sales at Crisp Wireless, a provider of mobile applications and content management platforms to online publishers, media firms, agencies and brands. Prior to that, he was director of industry relations at music technology specialist Muze Inc.

At GroupM, he will help constituent media planning and buying agencies such as MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia, MindShare and Maxus develop client strategies and internal processes relating to mobile.

GroupM styles itself as a media investment management company.

Aside from working GroupM clients to create and execute mobile marketing campaigns, Mr. Nevins will also engage with the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau on mobile benchmarking standards and measurement issues.

"Certainly I'm already involved around a lot of strategy to integrate mobile into client communications plans," Mr. Nevins said. "I'm also spending a lot of time meeting vendors, both on the media and execution sides."

Mr. Nevins will report to John Montgomery, chief operating officer for GroupM Interaction North America. He will also report to Stefan Meyer-Spickenagel, Dusseldorf, Germany-based global director of mobile at GroupM.

Mr. Nevins is the sole mobile executive within GroupM's North American corporate unit to handle mobile duties. But shops within GroupM do have their own mobile experts.

"GroupM and its agencies see mobile as a unique, powerful communications channel that will evolve to become one of the most powerful media channels, and we believe that integration is key to realizing this power and potential of mobile," Mr. Nevins said.

"While we believe that mobile can be a great standalone channel, we think it's most effective as a glue between other media types," he said. "In order for this to happen, mobile needs to be part of the strategic planning process."