The origin of this volume came while planning the 2009 International Conference on Decision Support Systems. The theme of that 2-day conference was “Assessing Today and Envisioning Tomorrow.” We wanted to summarize where the field had been and generate ideas regarding where it was going. The meeting brought together representatives from both academia and industry, and covered topics ranging from the earliest group decision support systems to new methods of managing emergency medical respons e to the future of telepresence. The notion of looking both backward and forward to put the field of Decision Support Systems into perspective also seemed a great subject for a volume of the Annals of Information Systems series. This volume reflects some of the best papers from that event.

The first paper, “GDSS: Past, Present, and Future,” is a summary of a panel discussion led by Paul Gray (Claremont Graduate University), and joined by Bob Johansen (the Institute for the Future), Jay Nunamaker (University of Arizona), Jeff Rodnman (Polycom, Inc.), and Gerald R. Wagner (University of Nebraska). The paper starts with Gray’s interesting history of group decision-making systems, starting with Churchill’sWar Room duringWorldWar II and ending with the University of Arizona’s GDSS facilities. The next section includes a discussion by Johansen regarding how GDSS systems can facilitate leadership by supporting foresight, insight, and action. Nunamaker’s section addresses the escalating need for support  of global teams, citing continued outsourcing, an increasingly competitive environment,and pressure to reduce costs related to travel. He also discusses the challenges of working in global teams and provides recommendations for how to make them more effective. In the fourth section, Wagner takes an entrepreneurial perspective, discussing the development and commercialization of several DSS and GDSS systems in which he was involved, including the Interactive Financial Planning System (IFPS), Vision Quest, WebIQ, and the follow-on to IFPS called Planners Lab. Finally, Rodman gives an overview and history of telepresence, and presents his vision for the future in this space.