Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell is a British businessman who founded WPP plc, the world's largest advertising and PR group. He served as CEO for 33 years until 2018. Sorrell was born in London, England on February 14, 1945, into a Jewish family. He attended Haberdashers' Boys' School and studied economics at Christ's College, Cambridge. He later obtained an MBA from Harvard University in 1968.

Sorrell began his career at Glendinning Associates and went on to work for sports agent Mark McCormack. He also served as group finance director at Saatchi & Saatchi from 1977 to 1984. In 1985, Sorrell invested in Wire and Plastic Products, a British wire shopping basket manufacturer, and became its chief executive in 1986. He then acquired several below-the-line advertising-related companies, including J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, which transformed WPP into a dominant force in the industry.

Under Sorrell's leadership, WPP grew from a £1 million 'shell' into a global powerhouse. The company had a market capitalization of over £16 billion, revenues of over £15 billion, profits of approximately £2 billion, and employed over 200,000 people across 113 countries. In 2018, Sorrell left WPP and founded S4 Capital plc, a tech-led digital advertising and marketing services company. He merged S4 Capital with MediaMonks and MightyHive to create Media.Monks, which operates under the S4Capital umbrella.

Throughout his career, Sorrell has supported educational institutions and charitable organizations, including Harvard Business School and Cambridge University, where he studied.