Team

Tony Hallett

Managing Director

Tony set up Collective Content in 2011 so brands can more easily become publishers and tell stories. This built on 15 years in media, from reporter to publishing director at Silicon Media Group, CNET Networks and CBS Interactive. He has worked in the US and Japan, and been a regular on business TV. After fronting dozens of conferences for major technology companies, including Google, T-Mobile and Gartner, he wrote the how-to book ‘Everything in Moderation’.

Ask Tony about: Storytelling trends, content marketing, audio, partnerships, a job.

Aled Herbert

Content Director

Aled oversees all editorial as our content director. He loves a good story – which is no surprise, as he started out in children’s publishing. He then worked with Tony and several of our regular writers at dot-com B2B tech news site Silicon, where he was one of the unnamed writers of the infamous Weekly Round-Up newsletter. He spent several years in the public sector while continuing to write freelance for Silicon, TechRepublic and Collective Content. He joined Collective Content full time in 2016 and is based in the West of England.

Ask Aled about: Cybersecurity, content strategy, UX, freelancing for us.

Shirley Siluk

Senior Editor

Originally from Chicago, where she also attended Northwestern University (a Tony alma mater too – go Wildcats!), Shirley leads US editorial as a senior editor/writer, now based in Florida. As well as working at a number of technology and business publications, she was on the launch team at CoinDesk and is a published author of several non-fiction books, including a guide to fact-checking. She first worked with Tony at bid marketers Erbut.

Ask Shirley about: Blockchain, IoT, Big Data, sustainability and smart everything.

Andrew Smith

Senior Editor

Andrew has worked in business writing and public relations for 20 years, creating content and managing communications for organisations including RICS, Clifford Chance, Eversheds and Taylor Wessing. At PwC for a decade, he specialised in human resource consulting services. He was a founder of the global HR newsletter, The Human Times.

Ask Andrew about: Content strategy, HRtech, newsletter strategy.

Fiona Skilton

Client Services Director

Fiona has close to two decades’ experience in client services, in account management at B2C and B2B marketing agencies. From 2015, she worked with Tony, John and other tech writers in our wider collective on a major CIO content hub for a UK telco. She loves problem solving, looks at things holistically, and makes sure our clients have the best experience possible, particularly focusing on what keeps them up at night.

Fiona lives in South-West London with her young daughter and a school of tropical fish.

Ask Fiona about: Finance, your pain points and holistic campaigns.

Bill Clark

Senior Editor

Bill is a prize-winning author and public speaker. He and Tony first met in Japan in the 1990s, before Bill went on to helm two popular consumer-oriented websites for one of Singapore’s leading internet service providers, as well as cover business and management stories during the dot-com boom. His writing has appeared in publications on six continents. He has worked in banking and insurance in Ontario, Canada, where he is based as our second North American senior writer/editor, after joining us full-time in 2018.

Ask Bill about: Risk, automation, fintech and the future of the cloud.

Becky Thompson

Research & Operations Director

Becky runs Collective Content’s market research arm, set up in 2013 to create a unique mix of insight and content for brands, all under one roof. A contact of Tony and Bill’s from Japan in the 1990s, she now brings 20 years of market research experience to the role, specialising in qualitative insights for technology, FMCG and public sector clients.

Ask Becky about: Depth interviews, focus groups, high-tech testing, FMCG and the public sector.

Sylvia Carr Clebsch

Senior Editor

Sylvia’s experience in tech and business content includes more than two decades in editorial positions at publications such as Upside magazine, ZDNet and CBS, including working with Tony, Andy, Tim and Aled on Silicon from 2004. Her interest in storytelling spans from B2B tech to literary fiction, which she dabbles in during her free time. While reared in the US, Sylvia is a longtime UK resident who is currently based in Cambridge.

Ask Sylvia about: Data privacy, open-source software, AI and punchy copy.

Fanny Abramczuk

Senior Content Manager

Fan is a writer/editor across most subjects in legal, finance and HR, as well as an experienced project manager. She previously spent over a decade at Atom Content Marketing where she was a member of the team behind the Donut series of business advice sites, managing both Law Donut and Money Donut. She’s a keen rower and a member of the same Bristol rowing club as Aled.

Ask Fanny about: Finance, HR and legal tech, as well as SMB issues and social media.

John Oates

Senior Editor

John started as a reporter at PC Dealer before joining the launch team at Silicon, along with Tony and Aled. He was news editor at The Register, where he worked for over 10 years, and survived involvement in the Paper Aeroplane Released Into Space project. He has written and edited everything from investigative features, court reporting and academic journals, to ad copy and scripts. Based on the south coast of England.

Ask John about: Cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, retail and the channel. And paper planes.

Eve Michell

Writer

Eve is a recent graduate of the University of Kent, where she studied English and American Literature with Creative Writing, and where she was a Social Media Ambassador in her final year. While she has been proofreading defence-related content for over five years, it was her love of literature and written media that led her to Collective Content, where she is learning all about the world of B2B technology and marketing.

Ask Eve about: Social media, newsletters and proofreading – and increasingly B2B tech.

Munir Kotadia

Content Manager

Mun first worked alongside Tony, Andy and Sylvia in the UK as a reporter on ZDNet. Transferring to sister biz-tech publication ZDNet Australia, he won awards for his news writing and weekly blog. He spent a decade as an independent videographer and photographer in Sydney, and then relocated to Thailand in 2016, where he still lives on a small tropical island.

Ask Mun about: Cybersecurity, videography, and how to keep monkeys away from your treehouse.

Oli Sharman

Project Manager

Joining us from the world of freelancing, Oli previously worked in marketing for The Economist and in sales and analytics for Bloomberg and IG. A graduate of Birkbeck, University of London, he completed his BA English degree as a part-time student while working in nursing for the NHS. Currently based in Southern Italy, he enjoys improving his Italian and writing science fiction.

Ask Oli about: Managing complex content programmes, marketing technology and la dolce vita.

Alice Larsson

Writer

Alice is one of our core writers, building on agency experience that’s seen her write blogs, EDMs and social media copy. She’s previously worked as an artist agent, fostering relationships with illustrators and publishers in the UK and Europe. She has expanded her literary education with a Master’s degree at The Royal College of Art in Critical Writing in Art and Design and is based in London.

Ask Alice about: Creative writing, podcasts and all things Swedish.

Emma Davies

Content Manager

Emma’s career was previously in B2B tech-focused integrated comms and PR. Prior to that, she was in public affairs and policy. She is particularly interested in creative storytelling that highlights the human and wider-world impact of technology. In her spare time, Emma produces electronic music and runs the Producergirls initiative, which encourages women and gender minorities to take up music production.

Ask Emma about: Cybersecurity, the future of work, AI and creating engaging, emotive copy.

Daine Lindsay

Content Executive

Daine joins us as an established videographer, performer and writer – fitting in a Performing Arts (Film, TV & Stage) degree along the way. In his first agency role, he’s been working on a series of multi-stakeholder customer videos and developing podcasts. Just for laughs, he can be found writing skits and – throwing the writing out the window – bravely performing improv comedy.

Ask Daine about: Channel content, video production, and comedy and sci-fi writing.

Zoe McNeil

Content Executive

Zoe started their career in primary, SEN education. That was after studying English and Creative Writing at UWTSD, where they first became interested in accessibility and inclusivity to extend the reach of content. Collective storytelling is one of their passions, reflected in their love of tabletop roleplaying games, LARP and actual play podcasts – as well as taking the agency’s social media game up a few levels.

Ask Zoe about: Social media, podcasting, accessibility and streaming over Twitch.

Who are Collective Content’s storytellers, beyond our core team?

We work with videographers, designers and other creatives but mainly we have an unmatched network of written content specialists. Most are now freelancers with years of experience in the media, writing or recording news and long-form content, as well as delivering the punchiest copywriting. They have written books, launched publications and interviewed the best-known figures in business and technology.

Are you right for Collective Content? Is this content marketing agency right for you? Drop us a line if you are looking for commissions and want to be part of our network. Right now, we are especially on the lookout for fintech and HRtech writers, as well as those with deep expertise in vertical markets, or with backgrounds in general B2B technology, media/marketing and management .