Behind the Scenes.

Jennifer Pellet and CJ Prince, editorial partners-in-crime at Chief Executive for three years running, co-edited this issue. Having narrowly survived the ordeal, they will be spending the next month at Sunny Pastures, dreaming of a technologically sophisticated magical world in which computers never, ever crash.

After getting his first rejection from a science fiction magazine when he was 11, Keith Ferrell went on to become editor of Omni from '90 to '96, and was also in charge of its migration from print to a Web-only 'zine. For more than a decade, Keith has written about evolving telecom and computer technologies; for this issue, he put his expertise to play examining the battles of bricks vs. clicks in telecom and retail.

Aside from using e-mail five years before the Web was invented, Andrew Bowser says he's missed the boat on every technology IPO of approximately the last century, and "yearns for the days when exploring the Net meant spending dateless Friday nights geeking out on a text-only green-screen terminal in a fluorescently-lit corner of the university student center basement." He spends at least three days of every month at home in the Big Easy, where Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and the occasional crawfish boil are a welcome respite from the cyber-detachment of wired life.

Having written on, consulted on, and taught international business for 10 years, Peter Buxbaum has contributed hundreds of articles to dozens of publications on transportation, logistics, and their associated technologies. A native New Yorker who has also lived in Europe and the Middle East, Buxbaum's feature for CE explores global solutions for the great brain drain plaguing the IT world.

Seth Oltman recently celebrated his two-year anniversary at Chief Executive. A regular contributor to CE's Techscape column and previous tech issues, Seth plans to become virtual himself someday. "Bandwidth," he tells us. "The key is bandwidth." When he's not working on CE's custom briefs or its Web site, chiefexecutive.net, he enjoys keeping up with movie rumors via the Net, playing dodge ball, and doing his laundry.

Jay Stuller is a San Francisco-based journalist and corporate communications professional. The author of five books, including one on the business side of the wine industry, Jay has accepted the fact that no industry can remain unscathed by the Web or technology. When not writing freelance articles or golfing, he has a day job in the public affairs department of Chevron.

Meryl Davids is a freelance writer and longtime Web shopper based in Coral Springs, FL, who writes on business strategy and technology for magazines and tech companies. For this issue Meryl, who recently made her first drug store purchase on-line, reported from the front lines of the virtual pharmacy war and talked to CEOs about realities of life leading a dot-com.

Self-avowed Luddite Joe Queenan is a regular contributor on business issues and financial follies to Barron's and the The Wall Street Journal. He has also been a regular CE columnist for 83 years (in Internet time).

Steve Bergsman is an Arizona-based freelance writer and although for the past decade his prose on the subjects of finance and high technology has graced the pages of the New York Times, Barron's and CE, his son maintains his PC and his wife balances his ledger.