Star Empires was designed and coded by John Miller, but it owes a lot to several people.

The original game (SE 1) was crafted by Roger Lincoln, and first implemented among the folks at this site by Damian Hammontree (SE 2).  Earl May was the mastermind behind SE 3-D (with help from John Miller, Bob Johnson, and Pete Meyers).  John Miller wrote the SE 4 implementation, which ran for several years before the server folded.  This version is SE 5.

The following folks helped design and playtest Star Empires over the years, and otherwise contributed good ideas, web assistance, moral support, and fun times:
Erich Cranor
Casey Dement
Dominic Esposito
Damian Hammontree
Bob Johnson
Greg Knussmann
Daniel Lesley
Earl May
Pete Meyers
Chris Patti
Chris Stanifer
Dan Sonnemann
Perry Wagle

Thanks, everyone!

It's been pointed out that Star Empires bears a striking similarity to a game called Galactic Conquest written by Adam L. Gruen in the late 1970s.  Roger Lincoln claims that Adam's game was called actually Star Empires way back when and says, "Please give all due credit to Adam." Done!