Narrative PR has hired Sarah Spence as its new managing director.
Spence joins the Bensimon Byrne-owned agency from Omnicom’s High Road, where she spent the past 10 years, the last four as president.
“Truly, it was a rare opportunity to work with an incredibly talented team,” Spence said in an interview with Marketing. “High Road will forever be my heart. The High Road folks are amazing and what we built together was, and is, so rewarding. But, sometimes it’s time for something new.”
A big draw for Spence was the fact that Narrative collaborates with both ad agencies in the group—Bensimon Byrne and One Method. Together, the three agencies employ more than 200 people across a number of disciplines.
“There really aren’t that many independently owned agencies that are the size of Bensimon Byrne, One Method and Narrative all together, and what the senior team has done there is really impressive,” said Spence. “It’s a really interesting group and that opportunity was exciting for me.”
Bensimon Byrne was shortlisted for Marketing’s 2015 agencies of the year, for its work on Justin Trudeau’s winning election campaign and a string of major business wins.
In her new role at Narrative, Spence’s key areas of focus will include client service, professional development and new business.
“Sarah’s leadership philosophy is founded on collaboration, which is the perfect complement to our integrated structure,” said Jack Bensimon, president of Bensimon Byrne, in a release.
“With a proven track record of success in building teams and training people for knowledge and excellence, Sarah is just what we need to continue building Narrative and evolving our public relations offering.”
Spence replaces Amanda Alvaro, who founded Narrative PR in 2007 and left last December to start her own agency with Lindsay Mattick Davidson, formerly VP strategic and creative at Narrative.
