PAUL J. SOLOMON, PMP, is an internationally known consultant and author on Earned Value Management (EVM), and founder of his firm, Performance-Based Earned Value®. Mr. Solomon led the use of EVM on programs at Northrop Grumman Corporation, including the B-2 Stealth Bomber and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. He is a coauthor of EVM standards, including the national standard, ANSI/EIA-748 (for which he received the U.S. Department of Defense David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award) and the PMI Practice Standard for EVM. He was a visiting scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and wrote an SEI report on CMMI® and EVM. Mr. Solomon frequently speaks at industry and government conferences and is a tutor concerning EVM, systems engineering, and software engineering in the U.S. and India.

RALPH R. YOUNG, DBA, is Director of Engineering Process Improvement, Systems and Process Engineering, Defense Group at Northrop Grumman Information Technology. Dr. Young helped lead his former business unit (Litton PRC) to CMM Level 5 and his current business unit to CMMI® Level 5. Northrop Grumman Corporation's Defense Group was the first organization in the world to be evaluated a second time at CMMI® Level 5. Dr. Young supports continuous improvement for both internal and external projects, to make process improvements, implement effective requirements practices, and develop innovations to facilitate project management.