John Bachner is well-known in several "worlds," especially that of design and other technical professionals, where he serves as a consultant, instructor, lecturer, speaker, and thorn in the collective side of a group he holds in high esteem. His specialties include management in general; risk management in particular; effective writing; public relations, advertising, and other forms of marketing communication; selling; and leadership, among a variety of others.
John is the founder and CEO of Bachner Communications, Inc. (BCI), a firm that provides a variety of services based upon John's areas of interest. Association management is a BCI service that embraces many of these interest areas and, since May 1, 1973, BCI has provided association management services to ASFE/The Geoprofessional Business Association, a not-for-profit association of geoprofessional firms that encourages its member firms and their employees to "prosper through professionalism." Since the start, John has been BCI's designated "point person" for the ASFE account, serving consistently as the group's chief staff executive. He has also served as the chief staff executive of the:
- Consulting Engineers Council of Metropolitan Washington;
- National Council of Acoustical Consultants;
- Washington Area Council of Engineering Laboratories;
- Metropolitan Washington Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers;
- Design and Construction Quality Institute;
- Professional Liability Agents Network;
- CEC/MW Educational Foundation;
- Intelligent Buildings Institute;
- Property Management Association;
- Mid-Atlantic Council of Shopping Center Managers; and
- Metropolitan Washington Heat Pump Association, among others.
John has written more than 250 books, guides, and manuals, including McGraw-Hill's Guide to Practical Property Management and Wiley & Sons' Practice Management for Design Professionals. His several Contract Reference Guides have been published by ASFE, Design Professionals Insurance Company (DPIC), XL Design Professional (DPIC's successor company), RA&MCO, and XL Environmental.
The more than 2,000 articles he has had published include regular features that appeared or continue to appear in GeoStrata, CE News, Deep Foundations, Foundation Drilling, and Water and Wastewater Products. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, John graduated from Harvard University in 1966. He has lived in the Washington, D.C. area since 1968 and, since 1997, has been married to the former Patty Bain, a person he refers to as "truly my better nine-tenths."