James O'Flaherty joins Spanb2b as Managing Partner

I'm delighted to officially announce that I've joined Spanb2b as Managing Partner.

When I left my last full-time role, I hoped I'd find the opportunity to build the kind of business I'd always wanted to be part of. That's exactly what I found with Claire and Adam.

My focus at Span is client leadership and commercial partnerships. We want to be much more than a service provider. The ambition is to become an extension of our clients' teams, close enough to understand their business, challenge thinking when it's needed and help answer not just how to do something, but whether it's the right thing to do in the first place.

I've been fortunate to work across client services, strategy and growth throughout my career. One thing that's stayed consistent is that the best work happens when you understand the whole commercial picture. Marketing doesn't sit on its own. Neither does sales. The two are connected, and the decisions you make in one area almost always affect the other.

That's a big part of what we're building at Span.

We're using technology to help us work in smarter ways, but technology is only useful if it gives clients more access to experienced people, not less. We believe senior thinking shouldn't disappear after the pitch. It should be there throughout the relationship.

I'm equally proud of how we're building the business. We want to work with people we enjoy working with, be honest when something needs saying and build long-term partnerships rather than transactional relationships. Life's short, work's hard, and I genuinely think people do their best work when they enjoy who they're doing it with.

There's a lot still to do, which is exactly how we want it.

If you'd like to talk about client leadership, go-to-market strategy, programme design or simply compare notes on where B2B marketing is heading, I'd love to hear from you.

— James O'Flaherty, Managing Partner, Spanb2b