Bernard W. Taylor III is the Pamplin Professor of Management Science and Head of the Department of Business Information Technology in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He received a Ph.D. and an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia and a B.I.E. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the author of the book Introduction to Management Science (9^th ed.) and co-author of Management Science (4^th ed.), both published by Prentice Hall. Dr. Taylor has published over 80 articles in such journals as Operations Research, Management Science, Decision Sciences, IIE Transactions, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Computers and Operations Research, Omega, and the International Journal of Production Research, among others.

Roberta S. Russell is a Professor of Business Information Technology in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Director of the Center for Services Science, Quality and Innovation (www.pamplin.vt.edu/ssqi). She received a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, an M.B.A. from Old Dominion University, and a B.S. degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Russell's primary research and teaching interests are in the areas of production and operations management, service operations management, scheduling, and quality. She has published in Decision Sciences, IIE Transactions, International Journal of Production Research, Material Flow, Business Horizons, Annals of Operations Research, Computers and Operations Research, and others. She is also co-author of the Prentice Hall book. Service Management and Operations.