Erin Burns Freeman
EBF Communications
Erin Freeman is an accomplished and trusted communicator who has qualified experience in public relations with an emphasis in media relations, advertising, marketing, strategic and event planning. She has expertise in building thoughtful, successful and targeted communications plans for a wide variety of clients representing the markets of tourism, healthcare, science, finance and beyond.
The bulk of her experience comes from her seven years as a valued member of the communications team at the Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation (KTSC). Erin joined the KTSC shortly after it was formed by the merger of the Greater Knoxville Sports Corporation and the Knoxville Convention & Visitors’ Bureau in 2002 and helped build its public relations department from the ground up. While serving as the corporation’s Director of Communications, she developed – and continues to maintain – vital relationships with members of the local Knoxville, regional and national media while acting as the company’s spokeswoman, developing media protocol and various crisis communications plans. Additionally, Erin planned, managed and executed publicity activities not only for the KTSC itself, but also for clients the organization served including the Knoxville Visitor Center, Knoxville Convention Center, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), Dogwood Arts Festival, United States Golf Association (USGA), Honda Riders Club of America, Harley Davidson Motors, National Street Rod Association, Boomsday, Destination Imagination, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Spallation Neutron Source. She has standout media pitching abilities, proven news sense and excellent ability to independently craft media materials, marketing collateral, website content and social media text.
In September 2009, then Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen recognized Erin as a Certified Tennessee Tourism Professional (CTTP) and she served as the 2009-2010 Vice Chair of the Middle East Tennessee Tourism Council, a 16-county collaborative marketing organization closely associated with the State of Tennessee’s Department of Tourist Development.
Erin believes in the importance of being active in the greater Knoxville community and serves as the 2011 President of Young Professionals of Knoxville, an organization with more than 130 members and affiliate of Leadership Knoxville. She currently serves on the University of Tennessee’s first-ever Young Alumni Council and since 2005, Erin has served as the President of the Knoxville Alpha Delta Pi Alumnae Association and in several different leadership roles in the Junior League of Knoxville.
A native of Pulaski, Tenn., Erin received her bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK). While at UTK, she also met her husband, Lee Freeman, who currently serves as the Senior Marketing Associate for the Acute Care Business Unit of DeRoyal Industries, an international healthcare products manufacturer headquartered in Knoxville. In her free time, Erin enjoys attending as many UT sporting events as she can with Lee, volunteering, working out, visiting her family’s farm in rural Giles County and spoiling Bernard, the couple’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer.