Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the efforts of my colleagues at DeVry University–Keller School of Management, Sacramento Campus, where I currently teach as a visiting professor. A special thanks goes to Oscar Gutierrez, national dean, College of Business and Management, for introducing this publishing opportunity to the faculty. To Dr. Jose Michel goes much appreciation for facilitating the project. And to Mary Cole MS, MAFM, Professor and Business Manager, for so willingly approving the student support for the project and for facilitating my ongoing teaching career. Also, I want to thank my many students who have helped me in various ways, throughout the years, to improve the clarity of my thinking.

A special word of appreciation goes to Dr. Anythony Tasca for writing the foreword to the book. I have known Tony for 42 years. He knows the art and the science of Human Capital Management, having served as a Chief Human Resource Officer of a very large company, and also having been a distinguished Human Capital Effectiveness Management Consultant to many companies over a period of 38 years.

This project greatly benefited from the efforts of Nusrat Tinni, one of my hardworking graduate accounting students at Keller School of Management, who carried the burden of transcribing the manuscript. Occasionally, I received some research assistance from another brilliant student, Madison Voss. I also want to acknowledge the work of Sharon Evers, who provided additional valuable transcription support.

My appreciation goes to Jeanne Glasser Levine, executive editor at FT Press, for so ably guiding this project to completion. Here also, I wish to acknowledge the assistance I received from Project Editor Elaine Wiley and Copy Editor Keith Cline. They both were calm, collected, and competent. They are true human resource assets to their organization.

I want to especially thank and acknowledge Thomas Hestwood, my friend and colleague of many years. Our joint research and publishing efforts have found expression in two of the chapters in this book. Tom was a strong professional partner early in my career. Our connections have remained steadfast over the many years. I owe a deep gratitude to Tom for agreeing so readily to the use of two of our joint publications in this book.

Finally, and as always, I acknowledge the efforts of my wife of more than 40 years, Usha, who has steadfastly provided support for this project and for many others. On this project, her assistance was invaluable both with the administrative tasks and in the editing of the manuscript.

Bashker Biswas, Ph.D.
Lincoln, California
August 2012