Media Headliner: Malegori pushes MindShare's frontiers into barbarian lands.

The Europe chief executive takes his cue from ancient roots, Jeremy Lee suggests.

Nine months ago, MindShare appointed Giulio Malegori as the first chief executive of its European network.

Some considered it a surprise choice - in the UK market, at least, Malegori was virtually an unknown quantity (even now, some UK MindShare staff looked blank when asked for their views).

However, he had claimed some level of notoriety when he left CIA Medianetwork in Italy, where he was the chairman of its Blumedia operation, to join WPP's MindShare. The move was a sensitive one because, two years before, Malegori's close colleague and the founder of CIA in Italy, Marco Benatti, had sold a 14.6 per cent stake in CIA to Sir Martin Sorrell, which eventually triggered WPP's takeover of Tempus.

Since then Malegori, 43, has built his reputation establishing MindShare in Italy in 1999 where it quickly rose to primacy, and the European chief executive job was a reward for his efforts in the country, where he remains the chairman of the operation.

MindShare is ranked fifth in Europe in terms of billings and Malegori is tasked with propelling it up the rankings table, much as he did in Italy.

His approach to the business is an intellectual one - he comes across as rather dry and perhaps a little shy - and he claims to draw his inspiration from his education in philosophy.