Randy T. Simmons is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute; Professor of Economics and Director of the Center on Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business; Co-Founder, President and Director of Research of Strata; Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center; and former Mayor of Providence, Utah. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Oregon, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Utah League of Cities and Towns and a Member of the Utah Governor's Privatization Commission.

Diana W. Thomas is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Economic Inquiry in the Heider College of Business at Creighton University, and Co-Editor of The Independent Review. She received her Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University, and she previously served as Assistant Professor of Economics in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.