Jim McClure
Media Relations Manager

Jim has spent much of the last two decades in technology public relations, starting at Edelman PR Worldwide’s Technology Division and eventually founding Apollo Public Relations in the Western suburbs of Chicago in 2001. A graduate of the University of the Notre Dame who attended school on a United States Marine Corps Naval ROTC Scholarship, Jim started out as a local TV news reporter in Wisconsin, Indiana and Virginia, before returning to Chicago after a stint as a freelance correspondent and producer for CNN.

His tech clients have run the range from mainframes to video games with extensive award-winning experience in corporate identity campaigns and product launches for companies including IBM, Motorola, Fuji Graphic Systems, LexisNexis, and Textron’s telecom divisions. He joined Tech Image in February, 2008 after a return to TV reporting in Alaska for the CBS Anchorage station and the Pentagon Channel.

What is Your Favorite Success Story?
One afternoon the Wall Street Journal TV Report said they would feature a client’s interactive technology if I could get them video of the system in operation and get them a recorded interview with the company president. Unfortunately I had 12 hours, the program was in New York, the client was in Seattle and I was in Chicago.

I hired a video photographer, was on a plane two hours later, landed at the Seattle airport at 10 p.m., interviewed the client in a makeshift office, and caught the redeye flight back to Chicago. By 6 a.m. I had pulled together a full feature story for the program, beating their deadline by two hours. The client’s software was seen nationally in more than 200 syndicated markets the following morning, resulting in several new accounts for the client. And I thought I had pulled my last all-nighter in college!

What Are Your Hobbies and Interests?

I love to hike along nature trails. I am active in several veterans’ organizations, and serve as a volunteer instructor in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, a youth organization of the sea services. I write a monthly column and report for Irish American News magazine. Vacations are often spent with my Dad touring presidential museums; and for dates you can’t beat a summer concert at Ravinia or a fall walk along Lake Michigan.

What Are Some of the Last Good Books You Read?
A Table in the Presence, a Navy chaplain’s account of how his U.S. Marine battalion experienced “God’s presence amidst the chaos of the war in Iraq.” I recently enjoyed re-reading Tom Clancy’s classic Patriot Games and James Michener’s Bridges at Toko-Ri.

Who Are Your Favorite Recording Artists?
I’d have to say the greats in orchestral movie soundtracks—John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and John Barry.

What Are Your Favorite TV Shows?
These days the must-sees for me are Around the Services on the Pentagon Channel, Dan Rather Reports on HD Net, CBS News Sunday Morning and every possible real-time moment of space missions on the NASA satellite channel.

Why Are You a Good Fit at Tech Image?
Effective technology public relations requires an enthusiastic curiosity mated with the ability to communicate on different levels to different audiences in order to get the results our clients desire.

My colleagues share that zeal and passion and direct that polite, persistent energy with integrity and efficiency that adds to the bottom line. And there’s a shared sense of humor that makes working here a pleasure.
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