Patricia W. Ingraham is professor of public administration and political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, author of The Foundation of Merit: Public Service in American Democracy, and coeditor of numerous books.

Laurence E. Lynn, Jr., is chair and professor of Public Affairs at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and coauthor of Improving Governance: A New Logic for Empirical Research.