John has enjoyed a long career as a prominent leader and developer of nonprofit performing arts organizations across the United States, including as Founding Director of the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Notre Dame, as chief executive of large cultural institutions in Minneapolis and San Diego, and as a long-serving officer of the Board of Directors of Western Arts Alliance. In 2007 Haynes was named CEO of PACE, where he guided the design and development of a new 2,300-seat performing arts center planned for Bellevue, Washington.  John has served as a guest lecturer and frequent keynote speaker at conferences and universities throughout the U.S. and twice in the People's Republic of China. 

 

At the end of 2016, Haynes resigned his position at PACE to dedicate his time entirely to Bard Arts Consulting, the practice he had founded a year earlier. BardArts specializes in the development of cultural facilities, leadership transition, and all facets of nonprofit support, including governance audits, strategic planning, fundraising support, and the 360° Organizational Review. 

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John is a native of Santa Fe, NM and credits growing up in that uniquely vibrant, multi-cultural city as the formative influence on his passion for the arts and their power to make good communities great.  After an early career as a program developer and writer at CBS-TV Network in New York and Hollywood, and for Viacom in Beverly Hills, John says he "headed for the light" of nonprofit arts management. For more than 25 years he built programs, audiences, teams, boards, seasons, and world-class cultural facilities. Now he deploys his experience to help others.  

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John describes his consulting style as straightforward.  "I hate jargon," he says, "I'm candid. I try to clarify complex choices and help my clients find the right path.  My goal is for them to have confidence not just in me but in themselves."