DENNIS D. POINTER is principal of Dennis D. Pointer & Associates, which has provided governance consultation and development services to more than three hundred health care organizations, nonprofits, governmental agencies, and commercial corporations. He has written many books and articles, including Really Governing, winner of the American College of Healthcare Executives Book of the Year Award. Dr. Pointer holds the John J. Hanlon Chair of Health Care Research and Policy in the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. He is also the Austin Ross Professor, Department of Health Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington (Seattle).

JAMES E. ORLIKOFF is president of Orlikoff & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in health care governance and leadership. A nationally recognized authority on effective governance, he has written ten books and more than fifty articles, and has consulted with more than five hundred organizations to strengthen their governance effectiveness. He is the National Advisor on Governance and Leadership to the American Hospital Association and the Health Forum and is a founding member of the Governance Advisors of the Governance Institute where he is a member of the faculty.