Marco Better OptTek Systems, Inc., 1919 Seventh Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 (betterOptTek.com). Mr. Better is a Research Associate of OptTek Systems, Inc. He holds a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A degree from the University of Colorado, and is a doctoral candidate at the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mr. Better has more than 12 years of professional work experience in the automobile, banking, and telecommunications industries.

Fred Glover OptTek Systems, Inc., 1919 Seventh Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 (gloverOptTek.com). Dr. Glover is the Chief Technology Officer of OptTek Systems, Inc. and is in charge of algorithmic design and strategic planning initiatives. He is a leading figure in the field of metaheuristics, a name he coined in the 1980s—an area that is now the subject of numerous books and international conferences, focusing on the development of models and methods enabling the solution of complex nonlinear and combinatorial problems that lie beyond the ability of classical optimization procedures. Dr. Glover also served as the MediaOne Chaired Professor in Systems Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor of the University of Colorado System. He has authored or co-authored more than three hundred fifty published articles and eight books in the fields of mathematical optimization, computer science, and artificial intelligence, with particular emphasis on practical applications in industry and government. Dr. Glover is the recipient of the distinguished von Neumann Theory Prize, is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, and has received numerous other awards and honorary fellowships, including those from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the NATO Division of Scientific Affairs, the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), the U.S. Defense Communications Agency (DCA), the Energy Research Institute (ERI), the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Alpha Iota Delta, and the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science.

Manuel Laguna OptTek Systems, Inc., 1919 Seventh Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 (lagunaOptTek.com). Dr. Laguna is the Vice President of Research of OptTek Systems, Inc. He is a Professor of Operations Management in the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received master's and doctoral degrees in operations research and industrial engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Laguna has conducted extensive research on the interface between computer science, artificial intelligence, and operations research to develop solution methods for problems in areas such as logistics and supply chain, routing and network design in telecommunications, combinatorial optimization on graphs, and optimization of simulations. His research has appeared in numerous academic journal articles and books. He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Heuristics and a member of the international advisory board of the Journal of the Operational Research Society.