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EMC Creative, a Danville-based strategic marketing and communications agency was recently named the 54th fastest growing company in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. (Oct 19-25, 2007)—twenty seven years after its opening. “We’re just another overnight success story,” said President Colleen Edwards.

The company’s current full-time staff of 45 represents a 99.5% increase over 2006 levels. In response to a growing internet-based clientele, EMC Creative opened a San Francisco branch in August, located on Mission Street.

This month the firm was also ranked 17th in the SF Business Times’ 2007 Top 100 Women-Owned Businesses. (Oct. 17, 2007).

EMC specializes in marketing for the land development, home building and financial services industries, serving clients throughout California and the western United States.

Other recent awards for Edwards include her 2006 induction into the California Building Industry Association’s Hall of Fame, one of just five women in the history of the organization to receive this prestigious award. Also in 2006, Edwards received the Women of Distinction Award by the East Bay Business Times. (April 28, 2006).

Edwards has directed the efforts of EMC Creative throughout its 27-year history, and the agency has garnered more than a hundred advertising industry awards in recognition of campaigns for such clients as The Mechanics Bank, Signature Properties, John Laing Homes and Catellus.

Colleen Edwards describes her entrance into the advertising business as something short of dramatic.

After graduation from UC-Berkeley’s School of Journalism, she took a job at an advertising agency, where she worked as a secretary and Girl Friday. There, she learned media buying, public relations and copy writing — skills that would prove valuable when she and Jeff McCaslin started their own advertising agency when Edwards was 26.

Today, after 25 years in business, she still thrives on the excitement and deadline-driven intensity of the advertising industry. Her company, Danville-based EMC, formerly Edwards & McCaslin, specializes in marketing for the land development and home building industries. EMC works throughout California and the western United States. It’s a business that is always changing, and it never gets boring, Edwards says.

“I still love the energy that comes from meeting with the people who are designing the homes and neighborhoods that we live in,” Edwards says. “There is a lot of creativity in the home building business.”

Last year, as her company approached its 25th anniversary, Edwards decided the time was right for a name change- from Edwards & McCaslin to EMC.

“I thought it was time to be less about the personalities and names of the original founding partners – Jeff and I – and more about what the firm is all about. What the initials really stand for is: Every Moment Counts,” Edwards says.

One of EMC’s current marketing endeavors has taken Edwards to Austin, Texas, where Catellus Development has embarked on an ambitious project to develop the city’s Mueller Airport. The project will transform the vacant airport into one of the country’s largest green communities.

Edwards is a role model for women in the male-dominated home building industry, says Joseph Perkins, president and CEO of the Home Builder’s Association of Northing California. Edwards’ pro bono work with various organizations is especially noteworthy — and appreciated, Perkins adds.

Over the years, the Learning Fund at Green Valley School in Danville, Family Service of the East Bay and Meals on Wheels in San Francisco have benefited from EMC’s pro bono services.

For the next few years, the agency is committed to HomeAid, a nonprofit branch of the Home Builders Association that builds transitional housing for temporarily homeless individuals and families. Edwards’ work has raised HomeAid’s profile and fundraising capacity, Perkins says.

“She has always been a pioneer,” Perkins says, “a real trailblazer”.

Colleen Edwards, founder and president of marketing communications agency, EMC, will be inducted into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame on Tuesday, June 20, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

EMC is one of the West’s leading companies in delivering strategic marketing for homebuilders and land use development companies.

The CBIA Hall of Fame, now in its 22nd year, is composed of 150 men and women whose contributions have resulted in the long-term advancement of homebuilding, construction, development, marketing, finance or related service within the building industry in California. The honorees are also involved in public service, civic, social and philanthropic organizations in their communities.

Also named to the Hall of Fame were Keith and Brenda Christopherson, co-chairs, board of directors, Christopherson Homes, Inc.; Jonathan Jaffe, chief operating officer, Lennar Corporation; Michael Towbes, chairman of the board, The Towbes Group; and Lawrence Weinberg, founder, Larwin Company.

Edwards’ induction into the CBIA Hall of Fame comes as a result of her more than 25 years of dedication to the homebuilding industry.

Her extensive industry involvement demonstrates her passion for the business.

Edwards co-founded the Women’s Council of the Home Builders’ Association of Northern California, and also served as its president.

Edwards served for many years as a director on the BIA of Northern California regional board, as is a past president of the Sales & Marketing Council. She has also served on the board of Home-Aid (the charitable division of the Home Builders Association of Northern California) and, for the past several years, has co-chaired the Pacific Coast Builder Conference (PCBC) programs committee. Edwards was appointed to the PCBC board of directors earlier this year.

Edwards is a magna cum laude graduate of the School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

She started her own business at age 26, with money enough for less than one month of operations. From those early days in Lafayette working out of an apartment with yellow shag carpeting and a stat camera in the bathroom, Edwards has grown to become an industry superstar.

Her extensive experience and writing skills led her to publish “From Good Market Research to Great Marketing,” a how-to guidebook for homebuilders and marketing professionals. She is now working on a mystery novel. All the while she juggles running EMC, driving her kids on school field trips, and creating verbal and visual masterpieces for her clients.

Edwards also works hard to contribute to her community. This year, she has contributed pro bono work to support HomeAid. In addition, she has led a media outreach effort for the East Bay’s “Umbrella of Churches” Operation Katrina program. The non-profit organization has raised more than $700,000 and built 14 homes in Mississippi to provide housing for hurricane disaster victims.