Claire Darley, Head of SMB Sales at O2 explains, “O2’s strategy to become much more than a mobile provider is creating lots of opportunities within our business and nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing the existing people within O2 develop and progress towards broader roles. After 5 years in Channel, Maggie Kennedy, formerly Head of Partners, has taken up a new and exciting role in the O2 Business Integration Team, an opportunity she is clearly very excited about. I wish Maggie well for the future and thank her for all her hard work and success in the O2 Partner Channel.”
Maggie commented, “it has been an amazing time and all our Partners have certainly taught me lots in terms of how to manage a very diverse and successful Channel, and my goodness how the world of Mobile has changed in that period. We have evolved from a volume to a value channel, data penetration has never been higher - aided even further with our inclusive data tariffs - and we have moved from a transactional relationship to one that centres around the customer experience, in addition to driving new products such as fixed services. It’s been fantastic working with so many great Partners over the years.”
Claire continues, “With Maggie accepting this fantastic new opportunity a vacancy was created for someone to head up the Partner Channel and I was delighted to be able to offer that position to Anton Le Saux, who has previously been Head of Wholesale Partners for the last 4 years. Anton now becomes Head of Indirect Sales and will head up the Channel going forward, something he is particularly excited about.”
Anton said, “I am sure I speak for the entire Channel when I thank Maggie for her work over the years, she has always put maximum effort into the role and has left me with some very big boots to fill. A lot of the readership of Comms Business may know of me already as I have been around in Channel for some time now, and I am really looking forward to working in a much broader role and getting involved with all stakeholders, both internal and external, to ensure that all of our respective business are profitable, capable and able to move in to the broader world of communications. I have worked with many O2 Partners over the years and have developed a great understanding of where we are today and what we need to be fit and ready for tomorrow, I’m sure it will be a very exciting ride full of successes, and some challenges, but I’m confident that together we can all win.”
Claire finished off by saying, “Anton’s progression meant that the position of Head of Wholesale Partners became vacant, and Bernie McPhillips, who has been in the role on a temporary basis since February of this year, has now taken over the position on a permanent basis and I know he is delighted. It is absolutely fantastic to be able to see people progress in this way, a clear demonstration of O2’s commitment to investing in the development of our people.”