Highbury College

Communications at the Commonwealth.

- Designed and implemented an internal comms strategy setting out objectives and solutions designed to boost morale, improve information flow between management and staff and keep employees informed of organisational priorities.•	Responsible for producing and commissioning all content for the intranet and managing its smooth running. Also deliver staff engagement initiatives across various platforms such as email newsletters, live/virtual meetings and surveys.•	Have led a project to develop a new first-class intranet for the organisation, seeing it through from concept and design to build and launch. Liaised effectively with internal partners across different departments and external designers.•	Results include tripling the amount of internal comms content that is published, increasing views of news and features on the intranet by 70 per cent and improving the number of user comments by a third. There has been praise from senior management for the quality of internal comms. One colleague said in a staff survey: “Internal comms has greatly improved in the past year. Since Simon joined, we are seeing great content.”•	Have worked with key stakeholders throughout the organisation, including the Commonwealth Secretary-General, directors and HR managers. Built positive relationships with staff at all levels, providing advice and support that has helped colleagues meet their communication objectives.•	Also part of the media and PR team. Produce strategic communications plans for events and campaigns as well as write press releases and op-eds, create social media posts, engage with journalists and external partners such as the UN to generate coverage of the Commonwealth’s messages.

The Commonwealth

Internal Communications Officer

- Was asked to return to Newsquest for second spell as web editor of News Shopper, newsshopper.co.uk, a regional news site for south London and Kent. •	Implemented digital strategy and publishing policies that led to huge audience growth from 250k to nearly 1m in three years.•	News Shopper was consistently in the top 10 best performers within Newsquest’s 160-plus sites which included many much bigger newspapers. It was regularly one of the fastest-growing and best-performing websites anywhere in the entire UK regional media.•	Managed social media channels, quadrupling combined Twitter and Facebook followers to more than 120,000.•	Promoted to new role of group web editor, managing News Shopper and eight other sites across London, Surrey and Kent. Co-ordinated content across all sites and their multiple social media channels. Wrote newsroom policy and trained journalists to ensure best practices in web publishing.•	Later promoted to be editor of the News Shopper series of newspapers. Managed all editorial output, including five print titles, the website and social media channels.•	Led a team of journalists, which included mentoring young reporters, developing their skills, monitoring their performance and handling recruitment.•	Served as the guardian and voice for the brand. This included building positive relationships with readers, contacts and colleagues and dealing with complaints and legal issues.•	Worked frugally during a period of financial pressure and upheaval, including overseeing an office move and new working arrangements for staff.•	Was made redundant, which prompted a positive career switch to comms.

Newsquest

Web editor, group web editor, newspaper editor

- Was poached to be editor of <a href="http://London24.com">London24.com</a>, a major new London-wide site covering news, sport, entertainment and culture.•	Managed a team of journalists, co-ordinated daily content across the site and developed the editorial strategy.•	London24 grew to 1m monthly users in a year of being launched, with the site becoming the fastest growing London media brand and the second most popular London-centric media brand. The site won Archant’s Innovation of the Year award and was shortlisted for two prestigious national media awards.•	Also responsible for Archant’s 14 newspaper websites across London, implementing strategies to grow audience and enhance the quality of content.•	Worked with major media partners including Mayor of London’s Office and National Apprenticeship Service to ensure effective coverage of campaigns Team London and Talk London in print, online and through social media.

Archant

Group digital content editor

- Responsible for managing all editorial content on News Shopper newspaper website, including overseeing a major newsroom culture change with the implementation of a ‘web-first’ policy.•	News Shopper won Kent News Service of the Year and several other website awards. Online audience grew from 30,000 monthly users to 230,000.•	Pioneered interactive features such as reader blogs and social network elements ahead of other news sites.

Website Manager

Began career as trainee reporter at the Observer Series of newspapers in Sussex. Later qualified as senior reporter and held various newsroom positions including crime and courts reporter, features writer, sports editor and web editor.

Simon Bull

Simon Bull