John M. Bryson is McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs in the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He works in the areas of leadership, strategic management, and the design of organizational and community change processes. He wrote the best-selling and award-winning, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 3rd Edition (2004), and co-wrote with Barbara C. Crosby the award-winning Leadership for the Common Good, 2nd Edition (2005). He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Prof. Bryson has received many awards for his work, including four best book awards, three best article awards, the General Electric Award for Outstanding Research in Strategic Planning from the Academy of Management, and the Distinguished Research Award and the Charles H. Levine Memorial Award for Excellence in Public Administration given jointly by the American Society for Public Administration and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Management Review, International Public Management Journal, American Review of Public Administration, and Journal of Public Affairs Education