Neil Shurtz

Content Creator
It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much
  • burritos
  • hiking, camping, photography
  • St Clement, Cornwall, England
  • some of the engineering trades are real page turners. My coffee table standard is Electrical Device Failure Analysis. In all seriousness though, science fiction novels (especially Philip K. Dick) and The Economist are my standard reads right now.

Though he’s the youngest member of the MSR team, Neil has been dubbed the office’s “old soul.” His quick verbal wit on the phone with reporters often comes as a surprise, because he’s usually hammering away silently at a keyboard, engaged in his true passion: ghostwriting contributed content for clients. Neil’s background in sociology and communication theory reflects a keen interest in understanding people, what motivates them, and the stories they tell about their life and work.

He views ghostwriting as more than just a structural necessity of content creation; it’s a form of creative writing that demands not only understanding a message, but the personality and the motivations of brands and authors as well.

Neil enjoys working with a diverse range of clients, and can switch like a light from discussing big data systems and hardware maintenance to wine and art and Carl Jung. He finds his energy, and the energy of MSR, comes from the cross-pollination of ideas across industries and media.

Neil studied Sociology and Communication at Western Washington University and is an Eagle Scout and veteran of outdoor education. When he’s not hammering out articles and press releases and pitching the media, Neil can usually be found haunting the jazz venues of North Beach and Sausalito or getting a dose of briny air hiking along the California coast.