Release Date: Monday, May 3, 2004

FOUNDER OF ORECK CORPORATION TO ADDRESS TERRY MBA GRADUATES AT MAY 7 COMMENCEMENT

ATHENS, Ga. — David Oreck, founder and chairman of Oreck Corporation, will deliver the commencement address to graduates of the master of business administration degree program at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.

The MBA Commencement ceremony will be held in Hodgson Hall of the Performing Arts Center at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 7. About 170 members of the Class of 2004 will be hooded. The ceremony will include students graduating from the full-time MBA program in Athens and the Evening MBA program at Gwinnett University Center.

Oreck Corporation, based in New Orleans, is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and other cleaning equipment. David Oreck founded his company in 1963, first selling upright vacuum cleaners to the hotel industry. Due to their lighter weight, the machine's popularity spread and people began purchasing them for home use. Today, Oreck has 1,500 employees, manufactures about 400 products and sells them in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Born in Duluth, Minn., David Oreck flew combat missions for the Air Force in World War II. After the war, at age 21, he began his career in New York City as a salesman for RCA. He rose through the ranks and eventually moved to New Orleans as RCA's new distributor for the region. Now 80 years old, Oreck still flies planes almost every day and maintains a fleet of vintage planes, including a one-of-a-kind 1944 Beech Staggerwing.

The company's chief spokesman for over four decades, Oreck has appeared in newspaper, magazine, television and radio advertisements nationwide. He has said the secret to his success is marketing. You must first have a good idea, but marketing creates differences in prices, he said. "To build a brand, you have to be able to estimate the power of an idea," he has been quoted as saying.

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