Brian Grow is a senior writer at BUSINESSWEEK. He works on BUSINESSWEEK's special projects team, where he has written a range of investigative feature stories about topics such as medical finance, digital currencies, counterfeit drugs, high-cost loans, click fraud and the trading of expired debt.

Based in Atlanta, Grow joined BUSINESSWEEK as a staff writer in 2004 covering retail, airlines, telecom, immigration and computer security. He has also written for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Prior to his journalism career, he was a government and media relations executive at The Coca-Cola Company, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Philip Morris Companies Inc. in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Grow has a bachelor degree in Political Science and Russian Language from the University of Notre Dame, and a masters degree in international economics and politics from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

Paul M. Barrett is an Assistant Managing Editor at BUSINESSWEEK, a position he assumed in September 2005. He is responsible for overseeing investigative projects. The magazine has won a series of national awards for articles he has supervised.

Prior to joining BUSINESSWEEK, Mr. Barrett was an editor and legal affairs reporter for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. At various times, he held the positions of Supreme Court correspondent, page one special projects editor, and page one news editor at the THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Prior to that, he was a staff writer and editor for THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY.

Mr. Barrett is the author of AMERICAN ISLAM: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SOUL OF A RELIGION, which was named to Best Books of 2007 lists by the WASHINGTON POST, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. He is also the author of THE GOOD BLACK: A TRUE STORY OF RACE IN AMERICA.

Mr. Barrett is a graduate of Harvard Law School and holds an A.B. from Harvard College.

Keith Epstein, a writer in BUSINESSWEEK's Washington Bureau, has been a Washington-based investigative reporter since 1986, when he joined THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER. At BUSINESSWEEK, his work has included examinations of cyber espionage, microlending, and the way the military disposes of sensitive equipment - to surprising recipients such as middlemen acting on behalf of Iran. Previous work included stories on problems with a malaria drug, on medical experimentation on unwitting test subjects without their consent, and on recurring commercial airliner crashes and other transportation tragedies that could have been prevented. Epstein's work also has appeared in THE WASHINGTON POST, STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW, CIO INSIGHT, and on the Discovery Channel's Web site.

Robert Berner is a correspondent in BUSINESSWEEK's Chicago bureau, responsible for investigative stories particularly involving consumer credit. Prior to joining BUSINESSWEEK, Berner wrote for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, covering retailers, drugstores, grocers, and food companies. In an investigative series at the JOURNAL, Berner and a colleague exposed massive financial fraud at drugstore chain Rite Aid, leading to criminal investigation and imprisonment of top executives. In 1985, he began his journalism career as a reporter for THE BENNINGTON BANNER and then became a business reporter for THE PATRIOT LEDGER. Berner is a graduate of Oberlin College.

Published August 8, 2008