In 1998, Nicholas P. Provenzo founded the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism. Via his work at the Center, Provenzo has established and led advocacy programs in defense of victims of the governmental violation of individual rights in areas including abortion, antitrust, fundamental tax reform, property rights, environmental legislation, genetic research and the Elián Gonzalez immigration case.

Provenzo provided written testimony to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the US District Court Judge on the Microsoft antitrust case and his arguments were included in Department of Justice’s "Major Comments List," the first time the Objectivist argument calling for the repeal of antitrust was given such consideration. Provenzo also led grassroots efforts that raised over 25,000 signatures for petition to Congress in defense of Microsoft in its antitrust case and 10,000 signatures in defense of Elián Gonzalez right to live free of communist dictatorship.

Most recently, Provenzo organized a grassroots effort to defend Marine Corps recruiters against city ordinances passed by the Berkeley, California city council intended to deny the Marines the ability to perform their constitutionally sanctioned mission.

Provenzo's writing and letters has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution and he been a guest on countless radio shows, including NPR's All Things Considered, The Right Side with Armstrong Williams and the Mary Matalin Radio Show. Provenzo also was a guest on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and CNN Headline News.

Provenzo graduated from George Mason University, receiving a Bachelor of Individualized Studies in the theory and practice of capitalism. A five-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Provenzo participated in Operation Sharp Edge in Monrovia, Liberia and operations in the eastern Mediterranean in support of Operations Desert Shield and Provide Comfort.

Prior to forming the Center, Provenzo worked for the Argus Group, a law and government relations firm that specializes in tax law and fundamental tax reform.

Dr. Andrew Bernstein

Dr. Bernstein teaches philosophy at Pace University, the State University of New York at Purchase and is a renowned expert in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. Dr. Bernstein has published on a wide variety of philosophical and literary issues, including “The Teachers’ Guide to The Fountainhead,” Penguin—“The Philosophical Basis of a Woman’s Right to Abortion,” Second Renaissance Books—“The Inventive Period,” Ideas on Liberty—chapters from Heart of a Pagan, in both The Atlantean Press Review and Art Ideas—“An Analysis of the Nature of Evil,” The Intellectual Activist—“The Philosophy of Romantic Fiction,” Art Ideas—and others. CliffsNotes recently published his Notes for three Ayn Rand titles – Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Dr. Bernstein is also author of groundbreaking new book The Capitalist Manifesto, an examination of the historical success of capitalism and of the philosophical and economic principles that explain it.

His op-ed essays have been published in such newspapers as The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Constitution and many others. Topics include: the moral rectitude of medical testing on animals, several critiques of contemporary education, the ethical problem with voluntererism and mandatory community service, the need for heroes in the lives of the young, a moral defense of Dr. Kevorkian and of physician-assisted suicide, and others.

Dr. Bernstein lectures regularly at American universities, speaking on a broad range of intellectual topics. He has given addresses at: Harvard University, Stanford University, the United States Military Academy at West Point, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin, Carnegie-Mellon University, Columbia University, and many others. Additionally, he lectures at philosophy conferences all over the United States and in Canada, England, Belgium, Norway, Hong Kong and Bermuda.

Dr. Bernstein also appears frequently on radio, as a guest on shows in Boston, Northern California, St. Louis, and Detroit among others, and as a guest host on a talk radio show in Los Angeles. Discussions include such topics as the role of values in human life, the need for heroes in our society, the nature of a proper curriculum for our schools, and the application of philosophical principles to a broad array of cultural/political topics.

Craig Biddle

Craig Biddle is editor and publisher of The Objective Standard, a quarterly journal of culture and politics based on the idea that for every human concern—from personal matters to foreign policy, from the sciences to the arts, from education to legislation—there are demonstrably objective standards by reference to which we can assess what is true or false, good or bad, right or wrong.

Biddle is also the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It, in which he demonstrates the secular, moral foundation on which individual rights and capitalism depend. Before becoming a writer, Mr. Biddle was in the outdoor adventure business, prior to which he was a furniture designer. He lives in Richmond, VA where, in addition to writing, he teaches workshops on good thinking for good living, the subject of his next book.

Edward Cline

Edward Cline has been writing since graduation from high school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Primarily a novelist, he has written fifteen novels and nearly one hundred published nonfiction articles, book reviews, monographs, and essays for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, the Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Marine Corps League, The Social Critic, and the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science on subjects ranging from censorship to politically correct speech. His articles have also appeared on websites such as Capitalism Magazine, The Rule of Reason, and Dougout. His article on John Locke in the Colonial Williamsburg Journal was reprinted twice in McGraw-Hill Dushkin’s Western Civilization II, a college textbook, and also served as the basis of a course in political science at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk.

Of his novels, First Prize, the second in a series of stories that feature a detective who solves murders based on moral paradoxes, was published in 1988. Whisper the Guns, the first in a suspense series featuring an American entrepreneur hero, was published in 1992. In 2001 the first of his Sparrowhawk novels, set in Virginia and England in the decades preceding the Revolution, appeared. The sixth and last title in that series will debut in December of 2006.

Aside from his nonfiction, he is planning to complete the third a series of detective novels set in Roaring Twenties San Francisco. More complete biographical entries on him can be found in several numbers of Contemporary Authors, a reference work published by Gale Research, together with his philosophy of writing and literature.

Dr. John Lewis

Dr. Lewis is Assistant Professor of History, Ashland University, where he is Assistant Director of the Academic Honors Program. His Ph.D. is in Classical Studies from the University of Cambridge, and he has taught at the University of London. He has published in classical journals such as Polis and Bryn Mawr Classical Review, and has lectured on classics, military history and contemporary political issues at numerous universities and private groups. His research interests are in ancient Greek and Roman thought, military history, and their connections to the modern day. His book Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens is forthcoming from Duckworth Press.

Dr. Edwin A. Locke (photo 572 K)

Dr. Edwin A. Locke is Dean's Professor of Motivation and Leadership at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and is affiliated with UMD's Department of Psychology. An internationally renowned behavioral scientist, Locke's work is included in leading textbooks and acknowledged in books on the history of management. He serves on the editorial board of Organizational Behavior and Performance and has served on the board of Journal of Applied Psychology and has been published newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and the Cincinnati Enquirer and has written over 215 books, chapters and articles that explore areas such as goal setting, work motivation, job satisfaction, incentives and the philosophy of science. Locke received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in industrial psychology from Cornell University.

Richard M. Salsman

Richard M. Salsman is President and Chief Market Strategist at InterMarket Forecasting, an economic forecasting and investment advisory firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Salsman is a renowned expert in the research and forecasting of stocks, bonds and currencies, and his counsel is relied upon in the asset allocation decisions of institutional investment managers, mutual funds and pensions. He is the author of Gold and Liberty (1995) and Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (1990) and his writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, Forbes, Barron’s and The Intellectual Activist.