John Jacob Zucker Gardiner received his B.A. from the University of Florida in 1967 with majors in mathematics, philosophy, and political science. As a Kellogg Foundation Fellow, he completed work toward a Ph.D. in leadership at the University of Florida in 1973. He was selected for postdoctoral appointments at the University of Oregon (1978), Stanford University (1983), and Harvard University (1985). John has worked as a high school teacher/department chair, university professor/department chair, and institute associate director/director. He served as a founding board member of the American Council on Education's National Leadership Group and as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, Johns Hopkins University Press, and Jossey-Bass Publishers. John also served on the boards of the American Educational Research Association (Division J) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. On the Board of the International Leadership Association (ILA), Gardiner chaired its 2002 Global Conference. He was a Board member of the Center for the Advanced Study of Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park, at the time of its sponsorship/creation of the ILA. Gardiner currently serves on the Advisory Board to Leadership Review.

Dr. Gardiner's research interests include effective leadership practices (publications with MacMillan, John Wiley, Leadership Review, NASPA Journal and Community College Review) and emerging organizational forms (publications with UNESCO, Leadership Review, Educational Record). He chaired the SU's College of Education Scholarship Committee for several years and served on Seattle University's Task Force for Leadership Formation.