John Noltner

As an award-winning freelance photographer, John Noltner shot travel photos around the world. “I came to realize that people hired me to find beauty in unexpected places. It was my job to find good where others struggled to see it.” He brings this perspective to his work with communities, helping them find their strengths and shared values.

In 2020, Noltner and his wife Karen sold their home in Minneapolis and bought an RV. For the past two years they have traveled across the U.S. to find stories of healing and reconciliation. Noltner shares how he built trust and what he learned on the 90,000-mile journey in his keynote address, Lessons on the Road to Peace.

Noltner is the founder of the multimedia project  A Peace of My Mind, that helps communities see themselves and their shared values more clearly. He uses photography and storytelling to help individuals and organizations recognize and talk across their divides about what they want for themselves and their communities. “In a world that asks us to focus on the things that can separate us, this project invites people to rediscover the common humanity that connects us.”

Noltner has done projects for national magazines, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profits. He has published three books, most recently, Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America. He regularly speaks at colleges and universities, community organizations, conferences, and faith communities.