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CRT/tanaka Chairman and CEO to Receive Virginia Communications Hall of Fame Honor

Raper Among Five 2008 Inductees

Richmond Va, (February 26, 2008) –Mark Raper, chairman and CEO of CRT/tanaka, has been selected for induction in the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. He will be one of five inducted on Thursday. CRT/tanaka is one of the largest independent public relations and marketing agencies in the country with offices in Richmond, Norfolk, New York and Los Angeles.

The Hall of Fame, established by Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Mass Communications, recognizes individuals who have shown exceptional achievement in the fields of print, broadcast, public relations, advertising and interactive media, including cable and the Internet. Inductees are nominated and selected by their peers.

Other 2008 inductees include Rick Boyko, director and professor at the VCU Brand Center; Peter Easter, chairman and director of public affairs for Easter Associates, Inc.; John Edwards, editor and publisher of The Smithfield Times; and J. Malcolm “Jay” Pace III, former editor and owner of the Herald-Progress.
 
“What an amazing honor. The list of past recipients is a ‘who’s who’ in the communications industry. I am very humbled to be included among these superstars,” Raper said. “I’ve had the good fortune to be around Hall of Fame caliber people all my life – from family and friends to business mentors and communications associates. I’ve spent a lifetime of ‘borrowing’ ideas from smart, big-hearted people, so any recognition I receive is shared with many others.”

The company has twice been named the “Best PR Agency to Work For in America” by The Holmes Report, a leading PR trade publication, and twice been a finalist for PRWeek magazine’s “Mid-Size Agency of the Year.” In 2006, the firm was selected by the principals of other PR firms in the U.S. as the third “Most Admired PR Agency in the Country.”

Major accounts at CRT/tanaka include Air New Zealand, Sprint, Girl Scouts of America, the national Better Business Bureau, ITT Corporation, Performance Food Group, VHA Inc., Wines from Rioja (Spain) and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. The agency earned $11.2 million in fees in 2007. 

Prior to his work in the PR agency world, Raper served as director of marketing for Sentara Healthcare, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., where he was a member of the communications team for the birth of the first in-vitro baby born in the United States. He also previously served as manager of divisional public relations and advertising for Figgie International, a 35-division conglomerate with annual sales of $1.2 billion.

In 2004, Raper founded and still serves as chairman for the Lumin Collaborative, the PR industry’s first “think tank,” comprised of the country’s top mid-sized agencies. He also serves on the Council of PR Firms planning committee and the board of directors of the Coalition for a Greater Richmond. He is past president of the Arts Council of Richmond and also served on the boards for Noah’s Children, Richmond Urban Partnership for Educational Success (RUPES), the Carpenter Center and the Ginter Park Recreational Association.

Raper has earned numerous national and regional awards, including the 2007 Thomas Jefferson Award for lifetime achievement given by the Richmond Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Torch Award for business ethics given by the Better Business Bureau and the 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in Virginia.

Other notable Virginia Communications Hall of Fame past inductees include:

• Roger Mudd – Emmy-award winning TV journalist
• Virginius Dabney – Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Willard Scott – well-known weather/entertainer on NBC’s “Today Show”
• Max Robinson – among first African-American TV news anchors for ABC
• John Adams – CEO of The Martin Agency
• Jeff MacNelly – Pulitzer-Prize winner for editorial cartoons
• Tom Wolfe – best-selling author
• John Evans – co-founder of C-Span
• Ann Compton – well-known ABC News White House correspondent
• Earl Hamner – famous author
• Paul Duke – print and TV journalist with PBS and the Associated Press
• David Baldacci – best-selling autho

About CRT/tanaka

CRT/tanaka is an award-winning public relations and marketing firm with $11.2 million in 2007 fees. The firm is known for creative solutions and workplace culture. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., and New York, with offices in Los Angeles and Norfolk, Va., CRT/tanaka specializes in four practice areas – Consumer, Health, Corporate and Interactive. CRT/tanaka has been recognized with more than 285 national and regional awards for its strategic counsel, creativity, workplace culture and community service. Clients include Air New Zealand, Sprint, Charles Schwab & Co., Girl Scouts of the USA, Wines of Rioja (Spain), HoMedics, All-Clad Metalcrafters, VHA Inc., Performance Food Group and ITT Corporation. More information about CRT/tanaka is available at www.crt-tanaka.com.