The Understanding Business author team possesses a unique blend of university, community college, industry, public service, small business, and curriculum development experience that helps them breathe life into the dynamic business concepts presented in the text. As instructors who use the text and supplements in their own classrooms, Bill Nickels and Jim McHugh have a personal stake in the quality of the entire project. As a curriculum specialist, Susan McHugh is committed to making certain that Bill and Jim (and all of the other Understanding Business users) have the best materials possible for creating interesting and useful classes that make learning business an exciting experience.

Bill Nickels is emeritus professor of business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has over 30 years' experience teaching graduate and undergraduate business courses including introduction to business, marketing, and promotion. He has won the Outstanding Teacher on Campus award four times and was nominated for the award dozens of other times. He received his M.B.A. degree from Western Reserve University and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. He has written a marketing communications text and two marketing principles texts in addition to many articles in business publications. He has taught many seminars to businesspeople on subjects like power communications, marketing, non-business marketing, and stress and life management. His son, Joel, will be getting his Ph.D. from The University of California (Cal) soon and will be the third Ph.D. in the family. He, too, will be a professor.