 Jonathan Bean, Southern Illinois University
Jonathan Bean is Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Professor of History at Southern Illinois University, and editor of the book, Race and Liberty in America: The Essential Reader. He received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in 1994. Dr. Bean is a Member of the Illinois State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a Member of the Academic Hall of Fame at St. Michael’s College, and he is the recipient of the Henry Adams Prize for Best Book of the Year from the Society for History in the Federal Government and the Herman E. Krooss Prize from the Business History Conference. Bean is also president of the Illinois Association of Scholars, a state chapter of the National Association of Scholars dedicated to education reform.
His other books include Beyond the Broker State: Federal Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961 (1996) and Big Government and Affirmative Action: The Scandalous History of the Small Business Administration (2001). His scholarly writings have appeared in such journals as The Independent Review, Journal of Policy History, Enterprise and Society, Business History Review, Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Continuity, Business and Economic History, Choice, National Social Science Perspectives Journal, Ohio History, and The Historian.
His popular articles have appeared in National Review, U.S. News and World Report, McClatchy-Tribune syndicated columns, Salon, Weekly Standard, Fortune Small Business, Chronicle of Higher Education, Mother Jones, American Banker, Commercial Real Estate, and Business Week. A regular in the media, Bean has appeared on radio shows around the nation. He is a regular blogger for the Independent Institute's Beacon site: http://blog.independent.org/author/jbean/ and on education issues at FreeU (http://freesiu.blogspot.com). He has also testified before the U.S. Senate on issues of government waste.
 Rik Hafer, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Rik Hafer is the Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Prior to joining SIUE in 1989, he worked in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, rising to the position of Research Officer. Professor Hafer has served in a variety of roles since coming to SIUE, including Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance, Research Fellow in the Institute for Urban Research, and as Director of the Office of Economic Education and Business Research.
Professor Hafer has taught at several institutions, including Washington University St. Louis, St. Louis University, the Stonier School of Banking and at Erasmus University, The Netherlands. In addition, he has served as a Visiting Scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and as a consultant to the Central bank of the Philippines. Professor Hafer is an award winning author of nearly 100 academic articles in economics and finance, published in such top journals as the Journal of Finance, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Monetary Economics.
He is the author, co-author and co-editor of five books on monetary policy and finance. In addition to his academic work, he has written many opinion pieces, appearing in such publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the St. Louis Business Journal. He currently is a regular columnist for the St. Louis Beacon, an online newspaper.
 William J. Kresse, Saint Xavier University
William J. Kresse is an Associate Professor in the Graham School of Management of Saint Xavier University where he is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Fraud and Corruption and the Director of the Graham School’s Graduate Programs in Fraud Examination. Professor Kresse is an attorney, a Certified Public Accountant / Certified in Financial Forensics, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Forensic Accountant. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners named Professor Kresse “Educator of the Year” in 2007. Professor Kresse holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (Accountancy) from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois.
Sometimes referred to as “Professor Fraud”, William Kresse has appeared widely in the media, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, BankRate.com, WGN Radio, FOX-TV, CBS-TV, NBC-TV, PBS-TV and ABC-TV. Professor Kresse was a Contributor to the New York Times Online, and authors the “Professor Fraud” blog on the Chicago Tribune’s Chicago Now online site. Professor Kresse has authored or co-authored numerous articles appearing in such journals as Issues in Accounting Education, The International Journal of Learning, The Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education, Performance Improvement Quarterly, Fraud Magazine, and The Police Chief.
Before entering academia, William Kresse worked in the audit division of a major international CPA firms, served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Abraham Lincoln Marovitz of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and worked as an associate attorney for major Chicago law firms. Professor Kresse is a Member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Audit Committee, for Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. Professor Kresse has also served as a Hearing Officer for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, and as an arbitrator for the Cook County Circuit Court Arbitration Program. Professor Kresse is also a member of the Board of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Foundation.
 Patrick Mullen, University of Illinois Springfield
Patrick R. Mullen is an assistant professor of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Illinois – Springfield and has a joint appointment with the Center for State Policy and Leadership. He received his PhD in public administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2006 after 33 years with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington, DC.
Professor Mullen’s research interests include public budgeting and finance, as well as evaluation methods and issues in program analysis. His research has been published as chapters in three public administration text books, three encyclopedias, and various professional journals including the International Journal of Public Administration, Public Budgeting and Finance, Social Science Computer Review, and Virginia Issues and Answers. He is past president of the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis and serves on the board overseeing publication of Public Budgeting and Finance.
 Robert Podlasek, Bradley University
Bob has been Assistant Dean of Engineering and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Bradley University for the past 25 years. During this time, he has conducted a wide range of engineering and economic studies and was the co-director of the Fraunhofer IWS/ Bradley partnership. Fraunhofer is Europe's largest application oriented research organization with over 60 laboratories including IWS.
Before joining Bradley, Bob worked as an energy consultant, including three years with Northwest Energy’s Northwest Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Project. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Mid-America Solar Energy Corporation in Minneapolis and for three years as the Administrative Assistant for Energy to the Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. He also has worked for Battelle-Columbus as a researcher for large-scale energy projects.
Bob holds degrees BS, MS, and PHD degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a BA degree in Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
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