Atlanta’s largest real estate sales and marketing firm is in expansion mode.

The Marketing Directors said Tuesday it hired one of its top rivals, Janis Kirtz, to be its senior vice president of sales. The company is hoping to expand on a growing presence in Texas. And it’s considering setting up a land bank in Atlanta to help developers finance and hold property for new homes and townhomes.

“We’ve been lean and mean but we’ve weathered the storm,” said David Tufts, the company’s president. “Now we’ve emerged and we’re in a growth spurt.”

Kirtz is a 30-year real estate industry veteran who was the former president of Morris & Raper, and she and Tufts often went head-to-head with each other for big accounts. But Kirtz left after her company’s founder retired, and after several months off she decided to plunge back in.

“I’m excited,” she said. “We’re ready to take advantage of the real estate comeback.”

The Marketing Directors has about 100 employees scattered mainly around the Southeast, along with an expanding hub in Houston. The company once focused primarily on multi-family properties but is now venturing into single family master-planned developments.

“We are spreading our wings a little, too,” said Tufts. “These developers have been through hell and back, and we want to help them rebound.”

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