Single male. Enjoys traveling, reading and spending time with his 14 nieces and nephews. Big Cubs fan. Runs the Chicago sales office for the Internet’s leading global consumer and business services company.

And yet for some reason, the Northern Star initially didn’t want him.

“I was passed over,” said Jim Murphy, who today leads the Chicago sales office for Yahoo! Inc. “I got a phone call from the incoming manager, Dave Oliveira, telling me that I was not what they were looking for.”

Luckily for Jim, an opportunity to join the Star did eventually open for him during the summer.

Jim was popular and well-known in DeKalb.

“He was ‘the mayor’ and everyone knew him,” Oliveria says. “There wasn’t a place he could walk into where they wouldn’t shout ‘Murph’ when he entered the room.”

He was also a great friend and boss.

“He is so easygoing and fun to be around both as a friend and manager,” says Kelly Kniewel, who worked for Jim as an advertising representative. “Management is almost second nature to him.”

After graduating with a B.S. in marketing, Jim got his first job with a small information services company. A year later he landed his dream job with the Chicago Tribune.

That was, of course, after his car broke down on the way to the interview. While Jim was able to convince a state trooper to drive him to the Tribune’s office and get the dispatcher to contact the interviewer to let her know he would be late, the dispatcher ended up leaving a vague voice mail message saying Jim had been “detained” by the Illinois State Police.

“When I got there the interviewer was laughing her head off,” he said. “She honestly thought I had been arrested for a DUI or for running someone over.”

Despite all that, Jim was offered a job that night. He spent his first two years selling entertainment and retail advertising, helping develop products like chicagotribune.com and metromix.com. He also ran a sales team that called on local retailers and classified advertisers.

After five years at Tribune Company, Jim was hired by Yahoo! Inc. in 1999 and has built partnerships with companies like State Farm, Discover Card and Miller Brewing.

“I got in early enough to experience the bubble, the bust and the rebuild,” Jim says.

Today, Jim has become a patron saint of the Star advertising department.

“He’s always there when we need him'” said Business Adviser Maria Krull. “Jim has a heart of gold.”