Beginning Today, Essays by Times Board of Advisers

The Business section today introduces a new feature, the Times Board of Advisers, which replaces the Times Board of Economists.

Each Sunday, this space will contain an essay by one of six noted outside contributors, in rotation with analytical reports by members of The Times’ staff.

Here are biographical sketches of the new board members:

Michael J. Boskin, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George Bush, will write about the economy.

Boskin is Tully M. Friedman professor of economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, also at Stanford. In addition, he is an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and has his own consulting firm, Boskin & Co.

As a top adviser to Bush, Boskin helped develop the nation’s fiscal, trade and regulatory policies. His academic research focuses on world economic growth, U.S. saving and consumption patterns and the impact of technology and demographics on the economy.

Boskin was educated at UC Berkeley and lives in the Bay Area.

J. Eugene Grigsby III, director of the Center for Afro-American Studies at UCLA, will write about urban issues and economics.

Grigsby, an associate professor in UCLA’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, is also president of his own Los Angeles firm, The Planning Group.

He has written extensively about race and housing patterns, urban policy and black community life and has developed urban strategies for a number of cities, including Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Anaheim.

“Racial Apartheid,” a book he co-edited with Robert Bullard and Charles Lee, is due out in the spring.

Educated at Occidental College and UCLA, Grigsby lives in Los Angeles.

Stewart Alsop, editor-in-chief of Infoworld magazine, will write about technology, business and society.

A longtime observer of the personal computer industry, Alsop is also founder and publisher of P.C. Letter. In addition, he organizes two conferences each year for PC industry executives.

Alsop was educated at Occidental College and lives in the Bay Area.

Judy B. Rosener, a professor in the Graduate School of Management at UC Irvine, will write about management and workplace issues.

Rosener teaches and does research on the themes of cultural diversity, men and women at work and the relationship between business and government. She formerly was a member of the California Coastal Commission.

She is the co-author of “Workforce America: Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource,” and is writing a new book entitled “America’s Competitive Secret: Women.”

Rosener was educated at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton and the Claremont Graduate School. She lives in Newport Beach.

Jose de la Torre, director of UCLA’s Center for International Business Education and Research, will write about international business and economics.

De la Torre, born and raised in Havana, is also a professor of international business strategy in UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management.

A principal in Westwood Group, a Los Angeles consulting firm, he has advised companies and government agencies around the world. De la Torre also has taught in Europe and Latin America.

He is the author of “Managing the Global Corporation,” and has written about foreign investment in developing countries and the relationship between corporate strategy and government policy.

De la Torre was educated at Penn State and Harvard University. He lives in Los Angeles.

Robert Eisner, a past president of the American Economic Assn., will write about the economy.

Eisner is William R. Kenan professor of economics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He is perhaps best known for his view that worries about the federal budget deficit are exaggerated.

Among Eisner’s books are “How Real is the Federal Deficit?” and “The Total Incomes System of Accounts.” His new book, “The Misunderstood Economy: What Counts and How to Count It,” will be published in the spring.

Several members of The Times’ staff also will write in this space. John Brennan, director of The Los Angeles Times Poll, will write a bimonthly Business Pulse column, drawing on the Times Poll and other survey data to examine economic trends and public attitudes about the economy and business. James Risen and Robert A. Rosenblatt of The Times’ Washington bureau will continue to contribute monthly View from Washington columns of news and analysis about key developments in the nation’s capital.