Maurice Yeates has been a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson University in the Ted Rogers School of Management since 1996. Yeates earned his BA from Reading University (UK) in 1960 and his PhD from Northwestern University in 1963. He served as Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Ryerson University, 2002-10; and was appointed Dean Emeritus in 2010. Previously, he was a faculty member at the University of Florida (1963-1965) and Queen's University (1965-1996), where he also served as Head of the Department of Geography (1973-8), Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research (1979/84), and Founding Executive Director of the Bader Centre for International Studies at Herstmonceux Castle, UK (1993/95). From 1986 to 1994, he was seconded from Queen's to the Council of Ontario Universities to serve as Executive Director of the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. His research and consulting has focused on urban and regional development, and spatial location/allocation in the consumer service sector. He is author, co-author, or editor of 19 books, 60 articles in refereed journals and edited books, and over 100 reports. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1980; and received the 1982 Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography from the Canadian Association of Geographers.

Her interest in the retail sector began as a university student. Upon attaining her Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in Applied Geography from Ryerson University, she pursued a career in research in the retail sector. She worked for several years at the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson University where she first worked as an Assistant Education Coordinator for the Retail Learning Initiative and then as a Geographic Information Analyst. Her main skills are in location analysis and mapping as well as collection and insightful analysis of data. She has participated in a variety of research projects ranging from studies on the entertainment sector, to developing national databases on commercial activity and studies on foreign retailers in Canada. She has also assisted in the coordination of students across Canada for the collection of data related to power centres, shopping centres and commercial strips in main urban centers.