Greater Ottawa Metropolitan Area
I am an award-winning writer and story teller with deep experience covering a range of business sectors and writing in an array of formats including time-pressured news stories, analysis pieces, columns, long-form features and special projects. I co-authored Losing the Signal, the internationally acclaimed award-winning book about the rise and fall of BlackBerry, and provided research help or critical feedback to authors of several non-fiction books. I am a hard-working results-focused self-starter, team leader and network-builder equally at ease interviewing Fortune 500 CEOs and student programmers. I have extensive public speaking experience and have appeared in many broadcast TV/radio segments, podcasts and TikTok videos and moderated dozens of panels or conducted fireside chat-style interviews at conferences across Canada. To read some of my work visit muckrack.com/seansilcoff or globeandmail.com
Business Reporter based in Ottawa primarily covering Canadian innovation sectors (technology, biotechnology). Winner of three National Newspaper Awards the Montreal Economic Institute Economic Education Prize and Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) Best in Business Canada Award, Breaking News Coverage Examples of my work are featured here: https://muckrack.com/seansilcoff
I am a regular long-form feature contributor to Report on Business Magazine. Past cover stories include in-depth reports on Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Winnipeg's Richardson family, Wattpad and BlackBerry.
Losing the Signal is the internationally acclaimed, best-selling 2015 book about the rise and fall of smartphone pioneer Research in Motion (now BlackBerry) under the leadership of long-time co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. The book, co-written with fellow veteran business journalist Jacquie McNish and published in several markets around the world, grew out of a major feature investigation by the authors published in September 2013 in the Globe & Mail about the downfall of the Canadian company. The piece won a National Newspaper Award and was named one of the best business stories of the year by Longform. Losing the Signal won the National Business Book Award in Canada and was shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. It was named one of best business books of 2015 by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, BloombergView (Mohamed El-Erian) Globe & Mail, CIO Magazine, Strategy + Business Magazine, Irish Times, Irish Examiner and Vancouver Sun. “This is first-class reporting that reads like a juicy novel, with one amazing story after another. A terrific book.” - Howard Green, broadcaster and author of Banking on America “The best business book I have read for years.” - Australian Financial Review columnist Tony Boyd “A good old-fashioned insider’s business narrative, the kind we don’t see enough of these days, and it should scare the pants off most CEOs.” - Barbarians at the Gate co-author Bryan Burrough “[McNish and Silcoff have] produced a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare's attention... Even as you read, with a kind of shiver of schadenfreude, about BlackBerry's vicissitudes, there's plenty of food for thought here about what this means on a much broader stage.” ―Yahoo! Finance
Oversaw a team of 20 writers, editors and translators and a $2.5-million budget; responsible for writing speeches, annual report, employee magazine, annual public meeting presentations and other strategic communications documents. Worked closely with C-level executives and senior communications executives to shape and execute high-level communications strategies directed at a range of stakeholders.
I wrote freelance news and magazine articles for several publications including The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Magazine, Canadian Business Magazine, Maclean's Magazine and Queen's Alumni Review
Provided leading coverage of key Canadian business stories, including the long decline of Bombardier, the attempted takeover of BCE, the Molson-Coors merger and the start of the global financial crisis. From 2006 to 2008, was one of the paper’s marquee business columnists. Also produced editorial packages on CEO compensation and wealthy Canadians.