Michael Wright is the founder of Taligence, an executive search and talent intelligence firm that helps growth-stage and Fortune 500 companies hire senior-level marketers who actually move the needle. By fusing classic headhunting with behavioral profiling and real-time labor market data, he gives brands a lower-risk, higher-signal way to fill their most critical marketing roles, especially the CMO seat. Taligence CMO Ladder research fuels Ad Age’s proprietary CMO database and is used by boards, investors, and senior marketers to map who really runs marketing in the modern enterprise. Previously, Michael led global recruiting innovation at WPP and ran GroupM’s worldwide talent function, supporting 200+ recruiters and 13,500 hires annually across 80 countries. Earlier, he built a tech and telecoms search firm across Asia, work that earned him the nickname “Yue Lao,” the matchmaker of Chinese legend. He is the author of It’s Not This, It’s That [out 2026], a field guide to keeping your voice sharp in the age of AI and corporate sludge. His operating principle: the right hire changes a company and a life, so the work demands better data, cleaner language, and zero tolerance for nonsense.