John D. Wagner is a Managing Director at 1St West Mergers and Acquisitions (a firm that has transacted deal values of over $1 billion) and president of J Wagner Media, a leading boutique marketing and publicity firm. John is also the author of 18 books and more than 2,500 articles that have appeared in such media outlets as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, NPR's ATC (as spoken commentary) and the Chicago Tribune, among many other media outlets. John has also written many technical articles in such media outlets as the Journal of Light Construction (where he served as features editor) and Tools of the Trade. John is also a leading expert on construction product marketing, technology marketing, environmental building practices and cannabis and hemp testing. He co-founded Green Builder Magazine and served as its head editor.