Organizing Authors 

Ali Chahin is an engineer and specialist in electronic government and international business in the areas of information technology (e-government, GIS, e-learning, e-business, e-commerce, GED, KM, CAD, CAM, CAE, etc.), telecommunications and health. He is President of da Peregrine Falcon International S.A., CEO for Brazil of  BPG-IT - Business Prospect Group, Director of Business for  Aerotech Telecomunicações e Associated Consultant of Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda. He has consulted for  Schrader, Eng°  National and Papel Simão; served on the staff IBM; been President of  Caddesign, Cotesa, and Consultoria Tecnológica S.A.; and was  Principal of GovWorks Latin America.  He received engineering degrees from the University of Mogi das Cruzes (UMC) in São Paulo in manufacturing and mechanics and construction, and has received national and international recognition in project design. He also holds an MBA from the American Business Administration Institute in Cambridge, MA, USA and post graduate degrees in Materials Engineering and Computer-Assisted Manufacturing from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and in  Marketing Administration from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (São Paulo). He  participated in the Course for Government Leaders of São Paulo State. and has been a Professor in  the Technical Schools GV, Federal São Paulo, and the Technical Institute of Jacarei (ITJ). 

E-mail: alichahin@terra.com.br e alichahin@consultant.com

Website: www.peregrinefalcon.com.br (in construction).

Maria Alexandra Cunha is a specialist in public sector informatics, concentrating on e-government. She is advisor to the President of CELEPAR (Computer Processing Company of Paraná State); a professor in the Masters Degree program of the Potifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-PR), where her line of research is in e-government;. and an Associated Consultant of Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda. She coordinated the award-winning e-government program of Paraná State at CELEPAR until the change of government in 2003. In 2000 she received her doctorate in Administration from the University of São Paulo (USP) with a dissertation on public portals for citizen services. She also holds a Masters degree in Administration from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV-São Paulo) where her thesis was on models for administering computerization in the state governments. 

E-mail: xana@pr.gov.br e xana@rla01.pucpr.br.

Peter T. Knight is an economist, specialized in e-govenment and distance education. He is President of Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda. (Rio de Janeiro); a founding Partner of Knight-Moore Telematics for Education and Development (Washington, DC), and a member of the Business Council for Telecommunications and Information Technology of the Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro (ACRJ). Before joining the private sector in 1997, he served as a manager and economist for over 20 years at the World Bank (including as Lead Economist for Brazil, Chief of the National Economic Management Division of the Economic Development Institute, now World Bank Institute, and Chief of the Electronic Media Center). Prior to joining the World Bank in 1976, he held positions in the Ford Foundation in Lima, Peru and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. He has taught at Cornell University and the Center for Training for Economic Development (CENDEC) in Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of three books, author or co-author of 11 studies published by the World Bank (two published in book form in Brazil) and the author of over 50 articles. He holds  Ph.D and Master's degrees in economics from Stanford University; a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University (Worcester College), and an AB in Government from Dartmouth College. e-mail: ptknight@attglobal.net. websites: www.knight-moore.com and www.tedbr.com

Solon Lemos Pinto is an engineer, specialized in informatics and e-government. He is a Diretor of Business for BRISA – Sociedade para o Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia da Informação, with offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília. During the second term of President Fernando Henrique Carsoso, he was Secretary of Logistics and Information Technology in the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management and Executive Secretary of the Executive Committee on e-Government. Prior to that he served as President of the Brazilian Council of State Data Processing Companies (ABEP), was twice Directing President of the Data Processing Company of Rio Grande do Sul (PROCERGS, Coordinator of Informatics for the Federal Chamber of Deputies, and Superintendent of the 10th Operations Unit of the federal Data Processing Service (SERPRO). He received his engineering degree from the Federal University of Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul.  e-mail: solon.pinto@brisa.org.br