trator of Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs, at the U.S. Department of Labor and as Acting Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Research. In the latter position he played a major role in implementation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). He also served as a consultant to the Speaker of the House, Washington State House of Representatives. He received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs School at Syracuse University in 1973, and an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Washington in 1970.

K. PETER SCHMIDT is a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, serving as the head of its Benefits and Employment Law Group. He joined Arnold & Porter after his graduation, magna cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has written and spoken extensively on employee benefits including papers and seminars for, among others, American Law Institute; American Bar Association; Practicing Law Institute; New York University Institute of Labor; New York Law Journal; Warrent, Gorham & Lamont; and the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

GEORGE F. SHELDON, M.D., is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He formerly was Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Trauma Service at the University of California, San Francisco, at San Francisco General Hospital. He served as a charter member of the Council on Graduate Medical Education in 1986. He was Chairman of the American Board of Surgery (1989-1990) and has served on the Surgery Test Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He has also served on the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education's Residency Review Committee and remains on the Standing Panel for Accreditation Appeals. Dr. Sheldon is currently a regent of the American College of Surgeons and Secretary of the American Surgical Association. He previously was President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He served as a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Graduate and Professional Education of the Physician Committee 1983-1984. He also served on the AAMC Committee on Teaching in the Ambulatory Setting and served as Chairman of the Veterans Administration Merit Review Board for Surgery. He has served on the National Institutes of Health Working Groups, was Vice-Chairman of the Conjoint Council on Surgical Research and currently is on the American Institute of Biological Sciences Study Section. He serves on 10 editorial boards and also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hill-Physick-Keith House of the Historical Trust in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

KENNETH E. THORPE, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina (UNC) at