Point B appoints Duncan James as chief growth officer

Management consulting firm Point B has appointed Duncan James as its chief growth officer. James brings a strong growth track record over the past two decades in startups, scale-ups, and Fortune 50 turnarounds, with experience running management consulting, business transformation, and marketing businesses.

In the new role, James will guide the Seattle-based consultancy’s growth strategy across its entire portfolio, including new business, solutions, customer offerings, and technology products. He will be based out of Point B’s Austin, Texas office.

The firm – which offers services in management consulting, business technology, venture investment and advisory, and real estate development – saw a 21% revenue gain and a talent pool extension to 950 people in the last year. The 100% employee-owned firm also saw its employee stock ownership share price jump 45% in the last year.

James joins Point B from IBM, where he spent three-and-a-half years as vice president and industry head of North America for the IBM Services division. In the role, he led a successful turnaround and double digit growth for Big Blue’s North America consulting services in the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries.

Before that he spent nearly six years at advertising giant Dentsu Aegis, where he was chief growth officer for Africa and the Middle East, global chief strategy officer and chief operating officer for the General Motors account, and then global client leader for Dentsu’s Cadillac account. Before joining Dentsu, James spent three years as executive growth officer for the Middle East and North Africa at rival agency network WPP.

Earlier in his career, James was a senior consultant at Ingram Enterprise Investors, a hybrid management consultancy and venture capital firm. He started his career as a product strategist in the European division of Ford Motor Company.

“Duncan has a remarkable history of unifying and inspiring internal and customer teams around growth and building meaningful legacies,” Mike Pongon, CEO of Point B, said. “His leadership and background in competitive, digitally-driven industries is critical as we continue to advance and grow the value and product suite we bring to customers now and in the future.”

James added, “I am delighted to join this unique, entrepreneurial platform company that is so focused on serving clients with innovative business solutions. Point B’s new business models and partnerships are a meaningful fit for the digital economy, and the company goes beyond simple counsel – which is quite compelling.”