Lisa Andrews >

I learned the art of a good, clear sentence and the power of a deadline back in the day as a student journalist. Since then, I’ve used both to help people and businesses tell the stories that matter to them. I can turn my hand to almost any subject and love nothing more than untangling complex, corporate language to help audiences understand what a company really does. When not exercising grammar pedantry, you can often find me helping to run creative writing projects for writers’ group 26 or indulging in my newfound love of printmaking.

Laura Conaghan >

Quite unbelievably I have now spent more than 20 years working in communications spanning the private and public sector. After beginning my career as a journalist at Bloomberg, I moved into PR and worked in a variety of communications roles, including at the House of Commons for the Select Committees, notably the Treasury Select Committee; FTSE-250 investment manager Man Group plc; and at Maitland as an Associate Partner. Most recently, I led External Affairs at the Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB), the independent membership organisation set up to improve organisational culture in UK financial services. Claire is a longstanding (and outstanding) friend and with Falcon Windsor going from strength to strength, I was delighted to bring my experience to bear at FW, managing a variety of corporate reporting projects.

Peter Copley >

I wouldn't say I'm fussy, but those around me on this page would disagree, so therefore I suppose I am! But of course that is an asset to the projects we work on. I mostly enjoy the challenge of image retouching, it's like being a magician where I can make things appear and disappear at will, which makes me very popular with board members. I do spend a lot of time at my desk and look forward to a time when the Cyclades has reliable 5G and my desk can travel with me.

Jan Dekker >

At school (the same one as Claire*), I didn’t know that writing clear, readable and not-robotic-sounding corporate reports was something you could do when you grew up. So I dreamed of journalism. Newspapers eventually led to being writer and editor at the Design Council, and developing a deep love of Vitsoe shelves. Since then, I’ve been helping businesses sort their words out, on my own or in teams. It’s been incredibly varied – writing about everything from high-powered lasers to high-priced tea – but really it’s been about one thing: looking for the truth and writing it down in a way people want to read.

*This and being part of FW are a complete coincidence.

Rebecca Dowman >

I’ve been writing for business for almost 30 years, having trained as a journalist on regional newspapers. I specialise in corporate reporting and have helped write annual reports for such clients as Associated British Foods, Bupa, Bytes, Centrica, GlaxoSmithKline, Severn Trent, Unilever and the World Economic Forum. Outside of work, I write creatively, with writers’ collective 26 and via a poetry evening class with City Lit. I also love footling around boot sales, junk shops and gardens; wild swimming, and jogging with my whippet, Daisy, in the South Downs countryside near where I live. Daisy always wins.

Richard Hammerton >

I started in design in the 70s, (when annual reports were still ‘hot metal’), through the financial sector boom in the 80s to the coming of age of corporate reporting in the 90s: I feel I have ‘cut down a lot of trees’ over the years. Now that we work mostly online – sharing, collaborating and creating remarkable projects – our industry is kinder to the environment, and Falcon Windsor’s way of working is ideal. In between proofreading work, I have free time to ponder on a collective term for proofreaders: a sigh of readers… or a tome… or perhaps even a pilcrow^[1]…?

^[1] The symbol ¶, used to mark a new paragraph or section of text

Paul Higham >

I’m sometimes asked whether I enjoy proofreading. Tricky one, that. I do get real satisfaction from reading a piece, finding the good bits and weeding out the bad. Giving it back in a better state than it arrived. Improving it. Making it ‘work’. And if that satisfaction means enjoyment, then yes, I do enjoy it. When I’m not dotting ‘i’s and crossing ‘t’s, I search, ever hopeful, for a publisher for my first book, fuelling the search with Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate.

Louise Marsters >

Years spent ‘doing’ communications in corporate law firms (if I, a non-lawyer, could make sense of the content, the clients stood a chance too) turned out to be a valuable apprenticeship for the big break: financial reporting at a FTSE 100 company. Creating a single, unified company story each year was a lesson in politics, diplomacy, planning – and stamina. And it meant quickly shifting my own brand from ‘perfectionist’ to ‘pragmatic perfectionist’. Now, free to concentrate on the words, I’ll admit to reading style guides for pleasure – unless I’m busy balancing my love of running with an equal but opposite love of wine tasting.

Justine Miller >

Being an eternal optimist, I like nothing better than to be busy with lots of different projects; whether it’s branding a new baking business, managing a FTSE 100 Annual Report or supporting the team with proof-checking and typesetting. After more than 25 years in the business there isn't much I haven't seen or experienced, so I'm pretty confident that things will always get done in the end. For the past 14 years I've been based in Zurich with my family, so if I'm not at my desk I'm likely to be in the lake or up an Alp!

Mark Noad >

I’ve been working as a designer my whole career, and am endlessly fascinated by the challenges of bringing communications to life visually, whether for our clients at Falcon Windsor or for my own projects, the best known being my redesign of the London Underground map. And I believe that it’s only by doing my own creative projects – life drawing, oil painting and curating exhibitions for the Letter Exchange (the organisation for professionals in the lettering arts) – that I can always bring something new to corporate work.

Tamara O'Brien >

I always wanted to write for a living. While figuring out how, I taught English in Greece and Poland, and wasted years trying to get into publishing. My big break was joining the British Council in the mid-80s. Here I had a glorious time promoting UK publishing. I not only attended The Ambassador’s Reception, I bloomin’ hosted it. Life would never be quite so glamorous again, because in 1989, I found my calling: copywriting! I worked in recruitment advertising, then moved into corporate comms, where I met Claire. With our different strengths and shared outlook, we just clicked. Hugely. Twenty years later, we still do.

Ed Prichard >

At the age of 14, school aptitude tests confirmed what I already knew – that I wanted to ‘work with words’. The report suggested I’d make a good printer or librarian, which wasn’t quite what I had in mind. At the time, I was thinking more like the next Graham Greene. Despite this setback, I’ve managed to spend my life wrangling millions of words and ideas for all sorts of projects, from brand naming to promotional Z-cards and everything in between. (There is also a trail of half-finished novels and a stack of poetry.) I’ve worked with some great clients, from luxury automobiles to NGOs. Recently, I’ve been thinking and writing for Ordnance Survey and Oyster Yachts, and diving headfirst into the world of annual reports with Ted Baker.

Emma Scott-Smith >

People have short attention spans, especially in the business world, so it’s crucial that documents are clear and concise. That’s why I enjoy proofreading and copy editing – helping to make writing as easy to understand as possible so that readers get the key messages first time. As a chartered accountant, I bring business understanding and words together to ensure communications have the necessary weight without being obscure. I’m also a business writing coach. And I love helping ‘numbers people’, in particular, to hone their skills to write with more impact in less time.

Fiona Smith >

I fell into graphic design by accident nearly 30 years ago, and met Claire at one of the big corporate reporting agencies in 2002. Since joining the Falcon Windsor team in 2017, I’ve looked after both government and corporate clients – who, my loved ones may be surprised to hear, appreciate my patience! Not to mention their invitations to the famous FW annual party, which I organise. On Friday afternoons my patience is sorely tested in my weekly hat-making class.

Sam Webb >

I came to corporate reporting via London’s start-up scene, where I worked as a copywriter and brand strategist for nine years. Working freelance, I relish the variety of clients I get to work with. I’m told that I grasp the nub of a story, strategy or brand with remarkable speed. And that my sunny disposition is a welcome bonus. When I’m not at my desk, I’m generally balancing out all that cerebral stuff with swimming (dips in the Hampstead swimming pond a favourite – and convenient for FWHQ), yoga and slack-lining.