John Dawson has 35 years of experience with non-profit organizations.  First running the mailroom of the National Right to Work Committee and its Foundation at age 16, and later as a grant maker and director of grant activities for the US Department of Justice under appointment of the Reagan Administration.  John was Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and became Deputy Director of the Office for Victims of Crime, both grant agencies providing training and technical assistance to their respective professional fields.  While serving at Justice, John was a co-founder of a Christian missionary organization, Romanian Christian Enterprises.  For ten years subsequently, John served as a Vice-President of Prison Fellowship Ministries, a world-wide non-profit organization based in Reston, Virginia.  At Prison Fellowship, John served in the fund development department as head of event and field fund raising.  In his last five years with Prison Fellowship, he was chosen to be Chief of Staff to the Chairman and founder, former Special Counsel to President Nixon, Chuck Colson, assisting Mr. Colson with his public and internal interactions including his role in fund development.  He joined Tradewinds Consulting Inc., a fund-raising and management firm, as the managing partner in October 2003.  Tradewinds has served over 30 different non-profit organizations to date.

John is a retired Navy Reserve officer and served four years active duty numerous times in combat roles in Beirut, Lebanon and Grenada.  He was for four years the volunteer CEO of Dominion Christian School, a private academy of 135 students in Oakton, Virginia.  John currently serves on the board of Orphan Helpers, a ministry to orphans in Central American countries and volunteers his services as well to the benefit of physically and mentally challenged orphans in Romania.  He holds degrees in English and History from the University of Maryland.  John and his wife, Susan, have three children Jack, 18, Sam, 15, and Maggie, 10.  John enjoys wood carving, range shooting with rifle and pistol, travel, and is a member and Deacon of McLean Presbyterian Church of McLean, Virginia.

John has enjoyed the privilege professionally to support and manage a wide array of events, most often for Chuck Colson during John's tenure with Prison Fellowship, but also importantly events involving Aaron Nevin, Charlie Daniels Band, Loretta Lynn, Brooke Shields, Charleston Heston, a Bob Hope USO Christmas show, a Billy Graham Crusade, two White House Rose Garden ceremonies involving the Department of Justice, a White House East Wing reception for ministry and church leaders from around the country, as well as two presidential briefings for supporters of Prison Fellowship.

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