Contrary to several tweets over the past 36 hours, sources say that Charlie Walk’s first official day at Republic Records was actually not today, and that he was in the building for orientation.

Although contract negotiations are still under way, he is expected to start work officially as the label’s executive vice president as soon as Monday, a source said, and will head up the label’s marketing, PR and promotion teams.

Walk re-enters the record label business after founding and serving as chairman of Madison Ave-based advertising agency JWalk, which will continue. Prior to that he had a long history with Sony Music, starting as a college rep in 1987 and joining the Columbia Records team in 1990. Walk held a number of positions, culminating in being named executive VP of marketing and promotion before moving over to head up Epic Records aspresident in 2005. He held that position until December 2009. [Billboard.biz]