Our Team

Profiles

Elizabeth Abbott - Managing Director
Lyneve Rappell - Recruitment Consultant
Julia Zou - Accounts Administrator

Matthew Cumberworth - Director of Business Development
Julie Cumberworth - Director

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.

Julie Cumberworth - Director

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.

Julie's previous experience as a Corporate Auditor and Quality Manager for CitiBank was invaluable to us during her role as Quality Auditor. Julie played a major role in helping us maintain our ISO 9001 certification, working diligently (and tactfully!) to ensure we all complied with internal processes.

Prior to being involved in quality at TechWriter Julie worked in recruitment. She has since taken a step back from work 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).