Mark Raper
Chairman and CEO, CRT/tanaka

Under Mark Raper's leadership as chairman and CEO, CRT/tanaka has become one of the largest and most respected independent public relations firms in the country with offices in Richmond, New York, Los Angeles and Norfolk.

Clients from all industries respect his candid, insightful counsel that draws upon his leadership roles within healthcare organizations, pharmaceutical companies, Fortune 500 companies, not-for-profits and consulting organizations. He is widely known for achieving business goals via employee engagement and clarity of vision and values.

Prior to founding CRT/tanaka (and its predecessor Carter Ryley Thomas), Raper served as president of Earle Palmer Brown Public Relations and director of public relations for Ford & Westbrook. Raper also previously served as director of marketing for Sentara Health Care 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 public relations and advertising for a 35-division Fortune 400 conglomerate with annual sales of $1.3 billion.

Raper has earned numerous national and regional public relations and marketing awards, including the 2007 Thomas Jefferson Award given by the Richmond Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and the 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.
He earned a degree in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University after completing pharmacy training at Baylor University and undergraduate journalism work at the University of Richmond.