At Eastside, he served as student body president, the editorial page editor of the school's newspaper, and captained the undefeated varsity soccer team.

In 1982 he was recruited to New York to join national agency Benton & Bowles (later DMB&B) to work on the Corning Glass and Quincy's Family Steakhouse accounts.

In addition to account executive duties, Erwin began to write copy–ultimately serving as copywriter for John Madden's broadcast campaign for Quincy's.

While in New York, Joe, Gretchen and their friend Allen Bosworth began to talk of returning south to open an agency of their own.

Now with more than 200 employees working across all marketing disciplines, clients include Verizon Wireless, Denny's, Confluence Watersports, Fatz Cafe, ScanSource, Lockheed Martin and BI-LO Supermarkets.

During his chairmanship he remained neutral in the primary battle, seeking to engage all voters and help all candidates grow their South Carolina campaigns.

He served on the Executive Committee of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges' Commission on Teacher Quality.

In 2008, Joe Erwin and members of Erwin-Penland's leadership team created and hosted the first annual Food for Thought conference.

This event brought leaders from around the country to Greenville for an experiential "unconventional convention," showcasing and inspiring creative thinking across business, non-profit, artistic, educational and culinary endeavors.