John H. Bauer was born in Evansville, Indiana and attended St. Edward's University in Austin and South Texas College of Law. Mr. Bauer is an independent director and member of the Board of Directors of Zones, Inc., a global direct marketer of computer hardware, software, and accessories. Mr. Bauer is also an independent director and chair of the Audit Committee of Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing an integrated portfolio of oncology products aimed at making cancer more treatable. He also serves on the Board of Rebound Sports, Inc., a privately held manufacturer of baseball training products, and has served on the board of other companies, both public and private.

Upon graduation from college, he joined the international accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Houston and was transferred to Seattle in 1979 as managing partner of the Northwest Region. Mr. Bauer was a member of Coopers & Lybrand's Firm Council, the senior policy-making and governing board of the firm. In addition to management responsibilities, he also served as a business assurance audit practice partner. He joined Nintendo of America as executive vice president in 1994 and was responsible for the finance, credit, legal, licensing, systems, technology, and networking departments. He currently serves as a consultant to Nintendo and functions as a representative to the ownership group of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Mr. Bauer also serves as an executive advisor to The DigiPen Institute of Technology, a privately owned accredited computer science, simulation and game development school.