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Northamber names Spence as group managing director
Distributor continues to bring in wise heads to help bolster its ambitions to grow its market position
Northamber has welcomed industry veteran Darren Spence to step into the role of group managing director as the channel player looks to strengthen its position in the market.
Spence comes with almost three decades of experience in the channel, operating in a number of senior roles that have included developing reseller and consultancy skills. He joins the distributor from a spell as chief revenue officer at Smartbox.ai, but will be more familiar to many in the industry due to his time as managing director of Bytes Document Solutions.
Spence joins the business just a few months after it added the expertise of Ian Kilpatrick in a position of non-executive director and strategic advisor, as Northamber looked to bring in fresh perspectives to drive the growth strategy.
“We have strengthened the executive leadership of the group to support the next phase of Northamber’s growth, said Alex Phillips, executive chairman of Northamber. “Darren brings the operational focus, commercial discipline and leadership capability needed to achieve our goals to be a proactive, value-add distributor across AV [audiovisual], unified communications, cyber security and network infrastructure, recognised for our relationships, service and knowledge in our focus areas. We’re delighted to welcome him onboard.”
Spence will be tasked with supporting Northamber’s stated aim of bolstering its position in the distribution market, and attracting more vendors and resellers into the fold.
He said he was joining the businesses at a “pivotal moment”, with distribution continuing to play a crucial role in supporting both the vendor and reseller communities.
“Distribution is the engine room of the channel, and my focus will be on clearly demonstrating the value a great distributor can bring,” he said. “I want Northamber to be a destination employer that attracts the very best people, and a destination distributor that resellers actively want to work with. Northamber is a trusted, long-standing brand that is easy to do business with, genuinely value-add and a true partner to its reseller community. Above all, we want to help our partners win in an increasingly competitive landscape, and we’re going to have some fun doing it.”
Strong appointment
The move was also seen by Kilpatrick as a strong appointment. He said Spence was joining the businesses at an interesting time as it continued to look at expanding its position in the market.
“I’m delighted that Darren has joined Northamber at this exciting phase in our transformation and growth journey,” he said. “His reputation precedes him, and he has the breadth of experience and skills we need as we expand domestically and internationally.”
Northamber has been evolving its position in the past year, adding more vendors in its core growth segments, including AV and unified comms, but also through the acquisition of the hardware business of Nuvias UC in December 2025.
There has been a conscious decision to move away from lower-margin business to focus on higher-value segments, with security one of the best examples of that practice in action.
Recent figures indicated that the strategy was filtering into the numbers, with the firm reporting a 13% increase in revenue, reaching £63.31m.
