Chuck Westcott is a certified blackbelt instructor and has been a martial artist for over twenty years. He received his first black belt in Taekwondo in 1986 and now holds a fourth dan. He has studied Modern Arnis with Master Jim Ladis since 1998 and currently holds a second degree black belt. Recently he started studying Tai Chi Chuan.

A graduate of Northwestern University and the DePaul University College of Law, he originally intended to pursue a legal career. However, after practicing a short time, and much to the horror of his wife and family, he decided he was not lawyer material and quit. In 2004 he opened Chang's Martial Arts Academy in Lincolnwood, Illinois where he teaches Taekwondo and Modern Arnis.

Chuck and his wife Irene make their home in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. In addition to martial arts Chuck also enjoys history books, the music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, humor, fine dining, doing man-stuff and playing with kittens.

Mukesh Pitroda is a certified blackbelt instructor and has been practicing Modern Arnis for over 15 years. He has studied with Master Ladis since 1996 and has been fortunate enough to train with Professor Preses several times. He has studied several other martial arts for shorter durations.

He currently works in the technology/web development field. He has an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as an undergraduate degree in English from the same university.

Mukesh currently teaches Modern Arnis in Berwyn, Illinois and blogs at: http://defangingthesnake.blogspot.com/.
You can also read his articles on martial arts at Healthkey.com