Colonel Cole C. Kingseed, U.S. Army (ret.) is a 30-year Army veteran who commanded at the platoon, company, and battalion levels. After graduating from the University of Dayton in 1971, he served in the infantry in a variety of military assignments, culminating in his tenure as full professor of history and chief of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Colonel Kingseed holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University (1983) and an M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College (1992).

He is the author of Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956 (LSU Press, 1995), The American Civil War (Greenwood Press, 2004), From Omaha Beach to Dawson's Ridge (Naval Institute Press, 2005), The New York Times best-seller Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (Penguin, 2006), Old Glory Stories (Naval Institute Press, May 2006), thirty-seven articles on leadership, and 205 book reviews.

Rich Thomas is a culture change and organizational effectiveness expert. His experience spans 14 years as an executive officer and manager in leading consumer package goods and cable television companies as well as, 15 years as an organizational leadership and executive development coach / consultant to Fortune 200 companies. From 1992 until recently, he was President and CEO of The Millennium Consulting Group, Inc.