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John M. Bryson is McKnight Presidential Professor Emeritus at the at the University of Minnesota. He works in the areas of leadership, strategic management, collaboration, and the design of organizational and community change processes. He wrote the best-selling and award-winning Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 5th Edition (2018), and co-wrote with Barbara C. Crosby the award-winning Leadership for the Common Good, 2nd Edition (2005).

Professor Bryson has received many awards for his work, including lifetime scholarly achievement awards from five academic professional associations. The most recent is the 2021 Routledge Prize for Lifetime Contributions to Public Management Research from the International Research Society for Public Management. He has been a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration since 2005.

He currently serves on the editorial boards of International Public Management Journal, Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, Public Management Review, and Public Performance and Management Review. Professor Bryson has served in a variety of roles at the university and Humphrey School, including twice being associate dean. He has consulted with a wide variety of governing bodies, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit corporations in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Professor Bryson holds a doctorate and master of science degree in urban and regional planning, and a master of arts degree in public policy and administration, all from the University of Wisconsin. He was awarded a BA degree in economics from Cornell University.