Stephen O'Byrne was a consultant for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Accounting Standards Boards (FASB) and Credit Suisse First Boston Equity Research. Mr. O'Byrne was also active as Senior Vice President of Stern Stewart & Co., New York, and a principal in Towers Perrin. Stephen F. O'Byrne is currently president of Shareholder Value Advisors in New York, a consulting company specializing in management compensation, performance measurement and value-based management. Mr. O'Byrne holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Masters in Mathematics from Northwestern University. He is the author of numerous publications, including "EVA and Value-Based Management", McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Niels Pfläging is director of the renown Beyond Budgeting Round Table and president of the consulting company MetaManagement Group in São Paulo. His career as Business Controller took him from Xerox Argentina to Boehringer Ingelheim and finally to ThyssenKrupp Automotive Systems in Brasil. His current book QLeading with Flexible Targets – Beyond Budgeting in Practice" was published in September 2006 and won the Price for Best Business Book 2006, which is awarded by the Financial Times Germany. Niels Pfläging studied Business Administration in Hannover and Sevilla (Spain).

After completion of his studies in business mathematics in Germany, Dr. Stefan Ott was research assistant at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). There he received his PhD in risk measurement. Since then he is lecturer and researcher at the department of mathematics and statistics at the University of St. Gallen as well as at the FHS St. Gallen, University of Applied Sciences. Aside he is consultant for statistics problems and analysis for several projects and works as an expert in statistics for selected companies.

Dr. Alwin Locker studied Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering as well as Corporate Finance and is an alumni of the University of St. Gallen (HSG). He also held multiple executive positions in the HANIEL- and SIG concern, among others as global head of supply chain management at the SIG Combibloc International AG. He is a regular instructor for purchasing and supply chain management for executive managers and a lecturer at conferences. Furthermore, he is co-author of the book "Beschaffungslogistik – mit praxiserprobten Konzepten zum Erfolg", Hanser Verlag as well as additional publications.