The Social Spider team divide their time between contracted work, consultancy and self-generated projects.

David Floyd - Managing Director

Before co-founding Social Spider in 2003, David Floyd enjoyed four years as Editor of Exposure magazine, the multi-award winning youth participation project based in North London. He currently sits on the editorial boards of a diverse range of magazines and periodicals, straddling the line between arts and social action.

David has consulted for, among others: The Connection at St Martins, Collage Arts, The Bridge New Deal for Communities, the GLA, Connexions North London, Communities in Focus, ABCtales.com, Hearing Eye press, Get Ethical.com and The Big Issue.

Mark Brown - Development Director

Before joining Social Spider, Mark Brown edited successful online writing website www.ABCtales.com. As part of his role he raised funds for and developed the Arts Council-funded Talecatching programme, which used creative writing as a tool for tackling social exclusion.

Mark also previously co-managed ethical shopping website www.getethical.com, and provided consultancy to them on promoting their brand and defining their values and objectives.

Mark is editor of One in Four, Social Spider's aspirational lifestyle magazine for people with mental health difficulties.

Neill Harvey-Smith - Non-Executive Director

Neill is an independent consultant working across the boundaries of business, education and training. He has been an HR manager at Procter & Gamble, a senior manager at charity Intowork, and Commercial Director for training company Cahro. He was Managing Director of Debate Chamber, an educational enterprise, from 2003-09.

As a communication consultant, Neill has worked with a long list of clients including KPMG, Barclays Capital, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs and AEGON. He is a former Chair of the World Debating Council and has lectured, coached and been a guest speaker at universities all over the world.

Stephen Gardiner – Operations Manager

Stephen has a long professional history of researching and writing material for a variety of organisations and purposes. In his career as a radio journalist he became Deputy Editor of Independent Radio News, founding Head of News at Classic FM and Managing director of Reuters Radio News.

More recently, Stephen has worked for a number of Third Sector organisations. He managed BigIssueLists.co.uk, a website offering advice on a wide range of life topics to a general audience, researching and writing all content for the site. He is company secretary of the charity, ABCtales Foundation.

Before joining Social Spider he spent two years at Amnesty International where he was director of Make Some Noise, a global music and New Media project.

Anna Selby – Youth Media Manager

After graduating from the Creative Writing Masters at the University of East Anglia, Anna edited Concrete, the University’s award-winning independent newspaper and magazine. Whilst there she also set up an arts magazine and assisted in producing Workshop, the first Undergraduate Creative Writing Anthology from UEA.

Anna has a wide range of experience and skills in: multi-media, design, journalism, marketing, publishing and creative writing, and has worked for a number of years in passing on these skills to young people by running a variety of workshops and training sessions in Schools, Colleges and Universities.

Anna is project manager for the Hackney youth magazine Contrast, which is written and produced by young people from the borough.

David Warrington – Participation Manager

David is a former editor of Exposure youth magazine. He delivers participatory media training working with young people, people with mental health difficulties and others.

Laurie Penny – Staff Writer, One in Four magazine

Laurie is a blogger and freelance journalist published in The Guardian and Red Pepper magazine, amongst others. She writes and commissions news and features for One in Four, Social Spider's aspirational lifestyle magazine for people with mental health difficulties.