Pacesetters

As a 1971 management graduate, Jerry Murphy is part of Tech's history. For the past few months, he has also been making that history

erry Murphy is president of Murphy & Orr Exhibits, a company based in Forest Park, Ga., that designs, fabricates and installs permanent displays for a range of corporate, institutional and organizational clients.

Among the company's recent projects are the Georgia Tech history panels located on the mezzanine level of the Alumni-Faculty House.

"Because I went to Tech, this job has been particularly satisfying," says Murphy. "I always enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to convey a message or impression graphically. With the Tech exhibit, deciding how to present 'spirit,' for example, has been a lot of fun-and the process has also given me a deeper appreciation for Georgia Tech."

The largest share of Murphy & Orr's business is for museum exhibits and corporate showrooms, but the company also does work for trade shows.

In addition, "we do custom architectural woodwork-bank fixtures, store fixtures, counters, in-store graphics, display towers," says Murphy, citing Delta Air Lines as an example. Murphy & Orr creates virtually all of the carrier's interior signage at airports and ticket offices throughout its international system.

The relationship with Delta goes back to the 1950s. That's not unusual for Murphy & Orr, which prides itself on providing customers with the special personal attention that often marks a family business.

Murphy is the second generation of his family to run the company founded in 1946 by his father, Brenard Murphy, an uncle, Arvin Murphy, and their first cousin, Harvey Orr. Arvin Murphy's son, Thomas A. Murphy, IM'62, also works for the company as vice president.

"Growing up, I worked here during the summers, but my dad wanted us to have had other jobs before coming here permanently," says Murphy. "I started at Tech, then spent three years in the Army before coming back to finish my degree. I was in graduate school at Tech for a while and worked as a grad assistant, then spent some time teaching at Woodward Academy I guess Dad thought that was enough outside work experience, so I joined the company in 1973.

"Murphy & Orr's work includes exhibits at the Atlanta History Center and The Herndon Home, a telephone museum for Southern Bell, store interiors for Powertel, and Georgia Tech's George W. Mathews Athletic Heritage Center.

One of Murphy's favorite projects was a group of three exhibitions honoring the athletes and sports traditions of the University of Arkansas. One dealt with football, a second with the other Razorback varsity sports and the third, still in design, will honor women's athletics.

"It has been a huge project with each of the display areas in a different building," Murphy says. "Meeting and working with Frank Broyles, who is the athletic director at Arkansas as well as a Tech alumnus, was truly a pleasure."

Another memorable project was the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah, Ga., which opened in 1996. During the project, Murphy worked with W. W. Law, the head of the Savannah NAACP chapter for over 40 years and truly a local hero in the struggle for civil rights in his home town.

"You get quite an education in museum work from a different point of view," says Murphy. "I discovered that in Savannah, the 'heavy lifting' in terms of the civil-rights movement was done by local leaders and organizers with little or no help at all fron national organizations. And that's true of Albany, Columbus and many other cities. The work was done and progress made by local leaders, I heroes."

Such education and variety, says Murphy, keep his business interesting.

"It's always changing," he explains. "We're constantly doing new things, meeting new people and new companies, and we're always presented with new problems to be solved in terms of marketing, construction or engineering."

Solving those problems can at times be more stressful for the client than for Murphy, whose calm, unruffled demeanor has withstood the pressure of tight deadlines and lastminute changes-and calmed more than a few anxious customers, too.

"Some of the people we work with have never been involved in this kind of production before, so they get very nervous about meeting a deadline, especially if a related ceremony or reception has been scheduled," Murphy says. "We're used to working with those deadlines and will make extraordinary efforts to finish on time. After all, in the exhibit business if you miss deadlines, you won't be in business anymore." GT

Gary Goettling is a freelance business writer inTucker, Ga.

When Pete Wellborn won his lawsuit against unwanted Internet messages, he became a major player in a new field of law

awyer Pete Wellborn, ICS'86, is a rare find. He tutors Georgia Tech students. He makes the trek to his hometown of Macon, Ga., to do pro bono cases for under privileged citizens. Wellborn also visits schools, giving a message of hope to inner-city kids, telling them to keep trying, to never give up.

But that isn't what has thrust him into the headlines of The New York Times, Wall Street journal, Los Angeles Times, newspapers around the world and just about every major magazine devoted to the World Wide Web.

All the uproar is about Wellborn's win in a Los Angeles court against the "King of Spam," Sanford Wallace. EarthLink, a Pasadena, Calif., Internet Service Provider founded by Garry Betty, ChE'79, was a favorite target, and e-mail customers repeatedly found themselves the recipients of spam, or unwanted advertising, much of it pornographic. No wonder, a major source of the e-mail was Wallace's company, Cyber Promotions, and it was sending as many as 25 million spams a day.

EarthLink was gaining a reputation as spam heaven because the system was so easy for spammers to penetrate. It seemed there was no way for EarthLink to stop the spamming. The sender used a phony name, and the receiver had no recourse.

But in an unprecedented victory, Wellborn, who works with the law firm Arnall, Golden and Gregory,won a landslide case against Cyber Promotions. On April 7, in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, Judge Ken neth Freeman delivered a $2 million judgment against Cyber Promotions and made Sanford Wallace, its owner, write apologies to those he had spammed. And if Wallace spams again, he will be held personally responsible and subject to a $1 million fine.

"I really don't think he knew that what he was doing was wrong," Wellborn says. "He's an entrepreneur and a good businessman, and he knows as much about the Web as anyone I've ever met."

In an unusual turn of events, Well born and Wallace became friends dur ing the last few months of that case. Now, as Wellborn prepares for another case involving a Londonbased firm, Wallace will serve as an adviser "I think he sees it as penance," Wellborn says. "And I believe there may be many lawyers wanting to use him as a resource. It could become a new career. "

Wellborn is a natural for fighting spam. His major at Georgia Tech was information and computer science. After rejecting full scholarships to several universities and an appointment to West Point, he attended Tech as a President's Scholar, the most prestigious academic scholarship awarded here. He graduated on the Dean's List, with honors.

Wellborn is a genuine scholar and an athlete. A walk-on football quarterback, lie broke his thumb and moved to linebacker, where he injured his knee. "I was a scrub footbal player," he says.

But he has no regrets. "Just being on a team headed by Coach Bill Curry made it a wonderful experience," he says. "I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I have so much respect for him and am a better person for having played for him."

Wellborn still works out in the Yellow Jackets weight room every day and considers himself the coaching staff's unofficial counsel. "My ties to the Jackets run deep," he says. "My dad, Paul, graduated in the class of 1963 When I was a kid we never missed a Tech football game. And now I have a picture of my own daughter, Maggie, who's two, wearing the same sweater and GT rat hat I wore when I was her age."

Wellborn's day begins early. He's at the office by 5:30 a.m. He works out from 5:30 to 7 p.m., when he heads home to his wife Susan, IE '93, and his daughter. They have three dogs-two adopted from the Humane Society and one found along the expressway.

What lies ahead? Wellborn has plenty of goals. He laughingly admits that he's an "old guard" in the computer law business because the field is so new. "Where else can you read three notebooks of material and say you've read everything about the subject?" he asks.

He hopes to continue in computer law. And he would someday like to make enough money to build a new wing on a Tech building or to build an entirely new building.

"Tech has given me so much," he says. "I'd love to be able to give something back." GT