SAN FRANCISCO  —  Bateman Group has hired longtime IDG News Service journalist James Niccolai as director of its content and media strategy.

Niccolai has been with IDG for 20 years, most recently as its news editor. He's covered server hardware, semiconductors, cloud services, AI and big data. When he joins Bateman on October 3, he'll focus primarily on enterprise, developer and infrastructure technology clients. 

The new role reunites Niccolai with his former colleague from IDG News, Elinor Mills, who is now Bateman's VP of content and media strategy. She joined the agency four years ago and today leads its content studio.

“James brings a passion for cloud and data center infrastructure technologies that perfectly complements Elinor’s in trust," said CEO and founder Fred Bateman. "They also happen to be great friends who I know will commit to bringing even greater leadership to the Content Studio."

“I was ready for a change and excited to see what happens on the other side of the curtain,” said Niccolai. “They're a terrific group of people with a unique approach to storytelling and some really interesting clients.”

Bateman has more than 60 people and generates approximately $10.5m in revenue across offices in San Francisco and New York.