BALTIMORE, December 9, 2009 – IMRE, a full-service integrated marketing agency, today announced the addition of two new employees, McGavock Edwards, APR, and Tracy Lathan, APR, to its Home & Building team. The agency also announced the expansion of its agency of record relationship with John Deere.

Edwards, an industry veteran with more than 10 years of experience in public relations and marketing communications, will serve as account manager at IMRE.  In this role, Edwards will provide strategic counsel to clients including John Deere, Black & Decker and other clients.

Before joining IMRE, Edwards led marketing and communications efforts at the Raleigh, N.C.-based Catevo Group and its predecessor Epley Associates, counseling a wide variety of clients, including non-profit foundations and companies in the banking, construction and outdoor power equipment industries.  While working with organizations like John Deere, BB&T and Toffler Associates, she helped develop internal and external communication strategy that focused on delivering the right messages to the right audiences at the right time.

Currently, Edwards serves as president of the North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and immediate past chair of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s Young Professionals Network.  She is also currently a member of the Chamber’s Leadership Raleigh program and serves on the board of directors for the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association.

Lathan joins the IMRE team with more than eight years of public relations and marketing communications experience.  As a senior account executive at IMRE, Lathan will provide strategic counsel to clients, including John Deere, Verve Living Systems and others.

Prior to joining IMRE, Lathan was responsible for strategy development, special event support and managing national media relations campaigns at The Catevo Group and its predecessor Epley Associates. She worked with a host of clients, including John Deere, BB&T, ArcaTech Systems and The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham.

An active member of the Raleigh community, Lathan currently serves on the board of directors for the Raleigh Public Relations Society and the Triangle Radio Reading Service, and was recently elected to the board of directors for the North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.  Additionally, Lathan serves on the marketing committee for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network, is president elect of the N.C. State Young Alumni Council, and is actively involved in the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association.

“We are very excited to add McGavock and Tracy to our team, and their knowledge and expertise to our Home & Building practice,” said Shawn Draper, partner and senior vice president of IMRE’s Home & Building practice.  “We are equally delighted to expand our footprint in North Carolina and the Triangle region.”

IMRE was also pleased to announce the expansion of its consumer agency of record relationship with John Deere to include the commercial business.

In this capacity, IMRE will handle all of the public relations efforts for the consumer and commercial product segments of the John Deere Agriculture and Turf Division, which includes products and services for residential, golf and sportsturf, professional mowing, government entities and military customers.

“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with John Deere to include the commercial side of the business,” continued Draper.  “John Deere is poised for growth in the commercial segment and we are excited to be a part of it.” 


ABOUT IMRE
IMRE is an agency of marketing experts serving business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients in the Home & Building industry.  IMRE specializes in driving demand and purchase for home, building and manufacturing clients that include John Deere, Beazer Homes, DAP, The American Institute of Architects and many clients with sustainability marketing needs. Our services include digital, advertising, marketing and public relations.  For more information visit http://www.imrehb.com.