Senior Writers

Steve Hoffman

President and CEO

Steve Hoffman is president, CEO, and founder of Hoffman Marketing Communications, Inc. Under his direction, Hoffman Marketing Communications has gained a widely recognized reputation for providing high quality writing services, on time, and within budget constraints in a broad range of high-tech industries. Steve is responsible for development of his firm's highly successful virtual business model, adopted in 1999, in which highly talented senior writers are recruited nationally and work full-time from their homes. For 24 years, Steve has combined a technical engineering background with an understanding of business issues and technologies for high-tech companies to create marketing materials on complex topics. His award-winning deliverables appear in the form of marketing brochures, white papers, newsletters, fact sheets, case studies, trade journal articles, reports, and other types of documents, as well as Web site content. Steve has personally authored over 50 technology and business white papers, and is a recognized expert in this field. In addition to specific publication services, he has planned and managed entire publication programs; advised on publication needs; and tailored publications to particular clients. Steve received a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Steve Bosak

Senior Writer

Steve Bosak has spent over 20 years in high technology as a writer, editor and marketing communications specialist. He has worked at Palindrome Corporation/Seagate Software, Zenith Data Systems, and Sphere Communications developing white papers, brochures, case studies, newsletters, spec sheets, applications notes, technical presentations, and market analysis reports for business to business enterprise customers. As a freelance consultant, he has developed marketing communications, public relations collateral, and technical training materials for Cisco Systems, Dell, Novell, Crossroads Systems, Double-Take Software, and many other clients on network, security, storage, call center, and IP telephony technologies. His client marketing communication deliverables range from sell sheets to white papers and customer survey analyses. Steve began his career as a technology reporter and freelance journalist, publishing articles in magazines such as BYTE, PC Tech Journal, PC Magazine, PC World, Microsystems Journal and the Chicago Tribune, among many others. The CD-ROM Book, which he co-authored, was a best-seller for Prentice-Hall, and was translated into Italian and Chinese. He holds a BA from Columbia College of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Arkansas; both degrees are in English and Communication.

Sandy Fielden

Senior Writer

Sandy Fielden is an accomplished and widely regarded international business executive with 25 years of management and communication experience in the energy and software industries. He is an expert at communicating the value of a wide range of information. His primary business focus has been to translate business requirements into compelling software solutions and to effectively communicate them to end users. This discipline has required the development of a host of written materials throughout the product and sales cycles, for internal as well as external audiences. To achieve this, he has worked effectively with executives, managers, technical personnel, analysts, and end users.

For internal audiences, Sandy researched new product requirements and created product proposals. He wrote technical and functional requirements specifications for developers. He created user documentation for new products and developed training materials including online video tutorials.

For external audiences, to assist in the pre-sales process, Sandy developed compelling marketing/sales collateral such as case studies, informative documents such as white papers, and general marketing literature. During the sales cycle, he wrote numerous requirements specifications, responses to RFIs, and business proposals for clients and prospects. Sandy also authored many trade journal articles for a range of industry publications on technically challenging topics. He presented papers on various business topics at industry trade shows worldwide. Sandy has a degree in International History from Leeds University in the UK, and an MBA in International Business from Bradford University.

Cathy Swirbul

Senior Writer

Cathy Swirbul has provided marketing and technical communications services for nearly 25 years. In addition to writing white papers, case studies, and trade magazine articles, Cathy excels at helping clients use social media tools, including blogs, to accomplish their marketing objectives. She applies to client engagements a broad range of skills, including writing technical copy for customer and employee communications, creating marketing content for print and online media, developing training materials for sales and other internal staff, and managing public relations and media relations. Widely acclaimed for her accurate, on-time delivery of insightful articles, Cathy has provided deliverables to Penton Media, HCI Communications, Elsevier, the American Public Power Association, and numerous utilities. She has written more than 100 articles and columns for a variety of industry trade magazines, including regular, repeat engagements. In addition, she wrote seminar content for Padgett Thompson. Prior to becoming a consultant, Cathy was responsible for customer and employee communications at Missouri Public Service. She received a B.S. from the University of Kansas.

Barbara Clavan

Senior Writer

Barbara Clavan comes to Hoffman Marketing Communications with more than 20 years of experience as a technology marketing writer and consultant. She has provided strategic services across multiple industries, always emphasizing clear vision, a strong grasp of technical detail, and a desire to lead rather than simply echo the marketplace. Barbara’s work has contributed to key business-to-business sales and marketing initiatives for Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Sybase, Ariba, Wolters Kluwer, Allscripts, Thomson Reuters, Hitachi Data Systems, Vignette, Autodesk and many others. She has managed large-scale case study programs for several major enterprises, and has consistently delivered effective white papers, corporate and product brochures, positioning guides, sales presentations, application and product briefs, data sheets, web copy, magazine articles, newsletters, analytical reports, press releases, and other sales and marketing collateral. Her expertise extends to customer research scripts and interviews, along with associated executive reports and testimonials. In the past, Barbara has held creative and managerial positions with healthcare publishers, graphic design firms and financial institutions. She also achieved a rare distinction by publishing several crossword puzzles in The New York Times. Barbara received a B.A. in Political Science from San Francisco State University, and in her early years taught in public and private secondary schools, holding credentials in English and Government.