James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, on March 22, 1947. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1969 and received a M. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1970. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was written while he was working in a mental institution and was rejected by 26 publishers before being published and winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. He is best known as the creator of Alex Cross, the police psychologist hero of such novels as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross has been portrayed on the silver screen by Morgan Freeman. He also writes the Women's Murder Club series, as well as the Maximum Ride series, Daniel X series, the Witch and Wizard… series, and the Middle School series for children. He has won numerous awards including the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award. He also made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012 with his title I Funny: A Middle School Story and again in 2013 with his title Middle School: Get Me Out of Here!, 12th of Never, Alex Cross, Run, Confessions: The Private School Murders, Cross My Heart and The Christmas Wedding. Patterson is the co-author of Guilty Wives (2012) and Mistress (2013) with David Ellis. First Love, co-authored with Emily Raymond, made the New York Times bestseller list in January, 2014. James Patterson co-authored Private L.A. with Mark Sullivan and it made The New York Times Best Seller List in March 2014. Patterson also made The New York Times Best Seller List with Unlucky 13, Invisible, Treasure Hunters: Danger Down the Nile, and children's title Ultimate Showdown, book 5 in the Middle Scholl Series, in 2014.Mark Sanborn, the bestselling author of The Fred Factor, is an internationally-known motivational speaker. He is the president of Sanborn and Associates Inc, an ideas studio for leadership development. He gives talks to over one hundred business audiences a year on such topics as leadership, team building, customer service and mastering change.