The Team

Larry D. Fairley — President
Larry has over 25 years of experience in direct marketing, printing and advertising, working for some of the nation's largest direct marketing and printing firms before founding MRS.

He spent most of his career with one of the nation's largest direct response printing firms. During his corporate career, Larry designed and acted as project manager for the Converting Operations Through-put Team, the most successful process improvement effort in the history of the company. Larry is well-versed in the areas of continuous process improvement, Total Quality Management, and process reengineering and has employed a combination of the three, to advance MRS organizational performance.

Larry earned a MBA in Business Administration from LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA, a BSBA in Advertising Management from Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, NJ, and an AAS degree in Printing Technologies from Chowan College in Murfreesboro, NC. He also attended Wake Forest University's Babcock School of Management in Winston Salem, NC.

Giving back to the community is a priority for Larry. Currently, he is an active board member for Carolina's Minority Supplier Development Council (CMSDC), McKendree Village Foundation, and Habitat for Humanity of High Point, Archdale and Trinity, serving as a Director.

Aleta Howell — Senior Vice President/Strategy Director
Aleta has more than 18 years of experience working with clients to develop and execute successful strategic marketing programs. Aleta began her brand marketing career with RJR Nabisco where she was responsible for developing strategic marketing programs for several multimillion-dollar national brands.

Prior to joining MRS, Aleta served as an account supervisor and vice president at advertising firm Howard, Merrell & Partners, successfully launching national advertising, marketing, and communications programs for many clients, such as Kimberly-Clark, Owens & Minor, Cisco, BB&T, and Glaxo-SmithKline. As vice president, Aleta was responsible for guiding strategic planning, research, advertising, and creative execution for a portfolio of business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients.

Aleta also has experience as an independent strategy and marketing consultant, working with clients across several industries to guide the planning and execution of research and marketing initiatives for corporate and agency clients. Some of Aleta's clients have included IBM, John Deere, Butterball, and Novartis.

As senior vice president and strategy director for MRS, Aleta works with clients to guide brand and marketing strategy and marketing plan development and execution.

Aleta earned a BA in economics and business management from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ian Black
Ian Black has more than 10 years of experience in creative design. He began his career as an art director in the music industry, creating music and video packaging for a number of premiere brands, including Sony Music, RCA, Mercury Records, Provident, Zomba, EMI, Green Hill Music, and INO Records.

Ian also has launched his own company, Black's Design Studio, where he continued his work with a number of musical and other well-known brands.

He has also served as senior art director at Alcott Routon, overseeing accounts for KinderCare Learning Centers, National Federation of Independent Business, and Altair Data Resources.

Ian is the creative director for MRS and has guided the creative strategy and execution of dozens of campaigns and marketing communications for many national brands, such as Denny's, Merck, Volvo, and Novant.

Ian is a graduate of Auburn University with a BFA in visual communications.

Faye Parker — Traffic Manager
Faye has more than 17 years of experience in advertising, marketing, and broadcast media, having spent most of her career in radio advertising and traffic and business systems implementation. Earlier in her career, Faye served as traffic director for Clear Channel Communications – GSO (WTQR-FM, WMAG-FM, WVBZ-FM, WGBT-FM) and business and traffic manager for GHB Broadcasting-HP/Statesville (WIST-FM, WBLO-AM, WAME-AM). Faye's in-depth knowledge of traffic and billing systems allowed her to maximize commercial inventory by managing more than a million dollars in monthly commercial revenue, while coordinating commercial schedules with sales, programming, and production.

Faye has received the Clear Channel Greensboro Employee of the Year Award, the Big Paul Franklin Employee Award, and the High Point Chamber of Commerce Administrative Assistant of the Year Award.

As traffic manager with MRS, Faye acts as a liaison between MRS's clients and project managers, creative, copywriting, and production departments to ensure that projects exceed client expectations and are completed on time. Faye manages the day-to-day execution of projects by developing time lines and ensuring that quality standards are met.

Faye earned a BS in marketing and public relations from Appalachian State University and has also completed the University of Richmond–Robbins School of Business Minority Executive Management Program.

Audrey White — Regional Account Manager
Audrey has more than 12 years of experience in advertising, marketing, and event planning. Audrey brings an in-depth knowledge of agency management, media placement, print production, and event management. Her experience also includes serving as account manager for the largest HMO in the state of Tennessee, for which she oversaw all media placement, project management, client representation, and event management.

As regional account manager with MRS, Audrey serves a number of key clients and is responsible for managing dozens of marketing communications and print projects, from idea inception through full execution.

Ashley Lawal - Account Manager
Ashley has more than 5 years of experience in the hospitality, foodservice, non-profit and sustainability industries. She brings a unique skill set of corporate and small business knowledge. Her previous work experience includes Caterpillar Financial, Smith Travel Research and NFIB where she handled various responsibilities, including account management, sales, marketing, event management, communications, project management & social media. In 2009, Ashley launched an eco-friendly startup to assist companies in their green initiative efforts.

Ashley has a B.S. in Business Marketing from Northern Illinois University. She is currently a board member for ISOA (Interdenominational Services Organization of America) and the TN Solid Waste Regional Board.

At MRS, Ashley is responsible for client management, business development and social media.

Magda Isikhuemhenova – Marketing Communications Manager

Magda has worked in the graphic design field since 1996, beginning her 16 years of design experience in the print industry. Her work varied from books to ads to catalogs. After moving to North Carolina in 2000 from Japan, where she taught English for two years, she returned to the design field at a newspaper in Greenville, NC. During this time, she has learned the ins and outs of web design and added website design to her repertoire of skills.

Magda has worked as a Marketing Communications Associate at Pharmagraphics, a pharmaceutical packaging company, where she gained extensive experience in marketing planning strategy while supporting the sales team and coordinating the production of the company’s marketing materials. In 2012, she joined Marketing Resource Solutions to assist in MRS’s North Carolina office.

Magda attended University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her Bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2006.

Tanya Isley – Copy Writer (Independent Contractor)
With over 20 years’ experience in traditional and digital news media, Tanya brings a proven background managing all phases of online publishing strategies and integrating social media with traditional media outreach.

Tanya has managed the overall news media content strategy for several web sites, including multimedia campaigns and interactive features designed to invite and retain community. In addition, she has had primary responsibility for the marketing efforts for online products, including an extensive suite of e-mail newsletters and an interactive video network across 15 major B2B markets.

Previously, Tanya worked at Cox Communications, Cygnus Business Media and WTVD-TV. She also has several years of experience in corporate communications for Federal Data Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Tanya has undergraduate degrees in journalism and history from North Carolina Central University and a graduate degree in interactive journalism from American University.

Ellen Bush — Director, Production
Ellen brings a wealth of production experience to MRS. Prior to joining the organization, Ellen was vice president – production group head with Brann Wilton.

Ellen has 30 years of direct marketing production experience. Her background includes a variety of businesses and direct marketing agencies, such as CBS Magazines, American International Group, Myron Manufacturing, Nash Direct, Ammirati, and Puris. She also has an extensive background in producing a wide variety of print media, including financial services, business-to-business, catalogs, magazine insert programs and publishing, and consumer programs. Ellen also enjoys the challenges of projects requiring difficult production solutions.

Ellen has a BA degree in urban studies. In addition, she has taken numerous industry-related classes, including NYU School of Continuing Education, Print and Reproduction Processes and Materials; Center for Direct Marketing, How to Buy Printing and Lettershop Services; the Advertising Club of New York, Advertising and Marketing Course; and the Direct Marketing Association, Copy & Art, Catalogue Institute.

Ellen has also served on the faculty of the Association of the Graphic Arts, teaching Direct Mail Production, and served as a volunteer instructor of the Direct Marketing Training Program sponsored by NOW.

Chris Jenkins
Chris Jenkins oversees the new Interactive Media Services division of MRS. With more than 12 years of experience in the interactive space, Chris is a multi-talented designer, developer and trainer with complementing backgrounds in audio, video, print, CD/DVD creation, and more.

Chris entered the interactive field as an Internet Manager for a Hendrick Automotive Group dealership. Following this, he acquired a position with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he designed and developed innovative online courses and interactive media for high school and college audiences. Chris also served as the web designer, developer and multimedia specialist for the UNC-G grant project CENTe-R. After leaving UNC-G, Chris worked as a web developer in the Greensboro News & Record's interactive department, where he built their Flash-based online multimedia players and worked on CMS-driven websites.

In 2001, Chris launched Seven Multimedia where he completed works for clients, including federally funded grant projects and clients from a variety of industries including automotive, education, entertainment, real estate, and more.

At MRS, Chris is responsible for overseeing all activities regarding interactive work including, but not limited to, web design and development.

DHO Consulting (Strategic Partner)
DHO Consulting provides business and CRM strategic planning support to companies in a wide range of industries. MRS partners with consultant Deirdre O'Boyle on a number of strategic planning projects to provide its clients with fully integrated marketing programs that focus on building and maximizing the role of the customer relationship to build brand loyalty.

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