Dr. Leland L. Nicholls is professor emeritus and former director of the service management program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the nation's first university to be awarded the Malcomb Baldrige National Quality Award in 2001. He was also founder and director of the Wisconsin Institute for Service Excellence International. Currently, he serves as a consultant to global business, industry, government, educational and private professional associations requiring solutions to service related problems and opportunities.

Dr. Nicholls received his doctorate degreee from the University of Tennessee, as an National Education Defense Act Fellow. More recently, he completed programs in service management and leadership at the Harvard School of Business Advanced Executive Education Program, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Management Instituted, Disney Institute, and the Ritz Carlton Leadership Center.

He currently servies on a variety of educational and editorial boards. Most recently he served on the Board of External Examiners for the School of Business and Accountancy at Ngee Ann Polytechnic University in Singapore. He has presented published research in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Australia. As a receipient of a National Restaurant Association Workstudy Grant, he was a vice president of a Minnesota distributor of waste management products.

Dr. Nicholls resides in Wisconsin and Mississippi with his wife, Mary Jean.