Our Team

Profiles

Elizabeth Abbott - Managing Director
Lyneve Rappell - Recruitment Consultant
Gillian Stone - Team Coordinator
Julia Zou - Accounts Administrator

Matthew Cumberworth - Director of Business Development
Melissa Brett - Recruitment Consultant
Dave Halls - Recruitment Consultant
Julie Cumberworth - Quality Officer

Elizabeth Abbott - Managing Director

Not only is Elizabeth responsible for leadership and organisational strategy, she is also actively involved in recruitment and support for the technical communication industry. She is a member of the Course Advisory Board for the Swinburne course.

With her wealth of business experience, Elizabeth is well placed to understand the needs of our clients. Her roles have included Internal Audit Manager, Quality Manager, Project Manager, IT Support Manager, Programmer, and University Researcher. You'd never guess she started her career as a Teacher!

Elizabeth also holds a number of qualifications including a BA (University of Auckland), B.Sc (University of Western Australia), MBA (Macquarie GSM) and M.Prof Acct (University of Southern Queensland).

Elizabeth loves world travel and has recently worked in a number of Asian countries. Her travels frequently provide the subject matter for her digital photography and animation projects. These interests are shared with her husband and two sons.

Matthew Cumberworth - Director of Business Development

Matthew continues the family involvement in TechWriter, the company founded by his father Michael in 1992. His focus is on identifying and developing new client relationships. Matthew also manages a number of existing client accounts, particularly in the areas of aviation and defence.

You may have met Matthew at one of his presentations to industry associations such as the Australian Industry Defence Network, or Australian Society of Technical Communication (NSW).

Matthew's previous experience includes Lecturer, School of Economics at the University of NSW; Research Officer for the Australian and International Pilots Association, and Consultant for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. He holds a Phd in Economics from UNSW.

Matthew takes pleasure in good cooking and wine, particularly jammy shirazes. It's a good thing that he is also a regular surfer and ocean marathon swimmer, and gets to work off all that good food!

Lyneve Rappell - Recruitment Consultant

Lyneve was formerly a freelance editor. She has spent over 20 years working with writers and all kinds of documents from training materials to poetry and literature. (Poetry is a favourite genre.)

At TechWriter, Lyneve takes a problem solving approach to recruitment. "I find the job description is always an abstract two dimensional perspective on the role," she says. "In reality, I find people are multidimensional with ongoing, future and past issues and needs."

To bridge this gap, Lyneve talks to candidates and clients to understand them as people. One of our candidates said:

"Lyneve actually asked me what I wanted to do and what I would be interested in, and then pulled out jobs that she thought suited me, rather than trying to get me to suit the job. She really made me feel good about my skills, and I felt like I wasn't underselling myself for once."

Lyneve has held a number of roles including Production Manager for Halstead Press, and Learning Skills Advisor and Lecturer for the University of Western Sydney. She has also developed curriculum and training materials used to teach Japanese preschool students English.

Lyneve holds a BA(Hons) in English Literature and Philosophy and is close to completing a Masters in Editing and Publishing at Macquarie University.

Melissa Brett - Recruitment Consultant

Melissa helps clients clarify their documentation needs and the person they want.

"It's important for me to understand the needs of both the client and candidate as fully as possible," says Melissa. "I find the best match is achieved when the candidate has both the expertise required and fits the culture of the organisation."

Enabling her to do this is Melissa's 15 years documentation experience in the IT industry. During this time she wrote a broad range of materials including training manuals and user guides for software, policies and procedures, and technical notes. Some of her other achievements include:

developing the first writing style guide used by a leading developer of knowledge management software
introducing and managing an internal help desk at the Australian Institute of Company Directors
building an award winning relationship with Lotus Notes' largest enterprise support client.

Melissa has also worked as a Subeditor for the Law Book Company. She has a BA in History and Education, Diploma of Education and numerous IT professional qualifications including being a Lotus Notes Certified Professional and Novell Master Certified Engineer.

Melissa harbours a dream of being an artist, or interior designer, and has completed several courses at the School of Colour and Design Australia.

Dave Halls - Recruitment Consultant

Dave recently made the switch to recruitment after managing a technical writing team. He brings to his role at TechWriter a good understanding of technical writers and what managers are looking for when finding the right fit.

"Each job is unique, just as each technical writer has a unique set of strengths. The challenge for me is to find the right fit where the job relies on the strengths of the technical writer. This is not only challenging but also quite satisfying."

Dave is a tech writer with fourteen years' experience in a range of industries including IT, defence and telecommunications.

He has worked for companies such as GEC Marconi, ADI, Nortel, Nokia, DA Consulting Group, Siemens and Quicken Australia.

Dave also provides some TechWriter services, such as training people how to do technical writing or helping clients evaluate their documentation needs or practices.

Dave balances his work during the week at TechWriter by leading his own band on weekends. As an accomplished jazz pianist, he regularly plays in all the major Sydney venues. He also has a habit of spending holiday periods buried deep within sound studios recording his original music.

Gillian Stone - Team Coordinator

Gill is the first point of contact for all our candidates, she ensures they receive regular contact from us and are kept informed about the progress of their applications. Gill performs a wide range of tasks to support the rest of the team including interviewing candidates, conducting reference checks, and managing our candidate care program.

Gill completed her Bachelor of Business (Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations) at UWS Nepean. This exposed her to a broad range of subjects within the discipline but the interaction between the law and employment particularly caught her interest. Gill is our OHS officer and is looking forward to learning more about current working trends and issues in the recruitment industry.

Joining us from the Customer Service Team at BridgeClimb Sydney, Gill has also worked as a Groups Coordinator for a Canadian ski resort. There, Gill organised skiing weekends for groups of up to 500 people and experienced one of her most memorable achievements-learning to snowboard.

Julie Cumberworth - Quality Officer

Julie ensures that what we say is what we do. She continually reviews our business processes to check they support our values. (To find out what these are read Our Values.) Her eagle-eye is constantly on the lookout for service improvements and she's ready to swoop down on any instance of non-compliance. Julie's previous experience as a Corporate Auditor and Quality Manager for CitiBank is put to good use here!

Julie has a BSc Business Administration and is an active participant on our Board. Her vision, and passion for the value our specialists can add to organisations, has been essential to the development of our business.

Previously involved in recruitment, Julie has taken a step back to spend more time with her three sons. Two of her greatest joys are discovering the world again through their eyes, and laughing with them.

Julia Zou - Accounts Administrator

Julia is one of the most important people in our office. She ensures our contractors and suppliers are paid on time.

You may hear from her if you're arranging to pay your account or late handing in your timesheet.

Julia worked for a number of companies in China before moving to Australia in 2001. After working for 3 years in various roles, she took some time out to have a baby and is now working part-time, with the rest of her time taken up with family duties.

Julia holds a post-graduate Diploma in Accounting and can speak Chinese and Japanese (as well as English).