Erwin-Penland Co-founder Retires

ATLANTA Gretchen Erwin, co-founder of Erwin-Penland and the agency’s media director, has retired, the shop said.

Erwin, 50, and her husband, Joe, formed the agency in 1986 after purchasing Penland Advertising in Greenville, S.C. The couple, along with partner Allen Bosworth, turned the one-person shop into an agency that currently employs 145 people and has billings of more than $120 million.

Interpublic Group’s Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos of Boston bought the shop in January 2004. Erwin said she began planning her retirement after the sale but remained to train her replacement, Bill Reynolds, who takes over her position at media director and joins the shop’s eight-person senior management team.