I believe that Bertram is Red John.

Bruno Heller said that the list was real. Technically, Patrick only named one person on his list and that was Bertam (when he was talking to Lisbon in the car). The rest of the list, albeit from PJ's pictures, were read by Red John....so that is Red John's list, not PJ's. Meaning that Bertram was the only one cleverly mentioned straight from PJ. 

Just my theory....

Apparently name definitions are very important to Bruno Heller.  Check out this interview question answered by the creator himself:

"Q: Can you tell us why The Mentalist's name is Patrick Jane?
BH: Hello! This is the first time that someone asks me this question, and this needs to be developed. Primarily, Patrick is a good old Irish name and I adore it. Moreover, his surname -Jane- is a woman's name, an aspect that I wanted to sneak in his identity, because his personality is gracious and seductive. Lastly, in English, Jane is pronounced "jaine", like an ascetic religion that extol the virtues of the
nonviolence. The Mentalist likes better other tools to reach his goals."

After looking up all the definitions for all 7 men on the list, only Gale Bertram's was of any significance:

Gale = strong wind (denotes mystery, elusiveness, and of course strength)

Bertram = "The name Bertram comes from the Germanic name Bertram, which is composed of the elements berht, meaning "bright" or "famous," and hrabn, meaning "raven."  So basically a dark, brilliant, and famous creature--not to mention the notorious reputation of ravens in our culture.  

As for all you pinning the red on Bret Partridge.  Would Bruno Heller name Red John after a "plump game bird"?

PS:  Check out the creepy music tone with the picture of Gale Bertram on the wall at the very end of the episode "If it bleeds, it leads" (Season 5, Episode 7) when Patrick exits with tea in hand.  It illustrates perfectly how Bertram, like a raven on his perch, has his eye on everybody's back, from a position of prestige, advantage, and control.   

i re-watch again  season 3 ep 23 .... when jane told bertram about the meeting at mall he called someone after jane leave ... maybe the fake red john ... he know about jane s plan and he played jane s game because he thinks he will have hands clean :) .... red john always was with two steps in front of jane ... now think .... how fake red john knows jane was there? because only bertram knows O Laughtin didn t know ... so my guess is Bertram is the real Red John ... but he played their game ... 

By considering only the last episodes on S5 there is only one plausible explanation for Red John knowing about Patick's "happy memory" and killing it.
First of all consider that Patrick said he never told anyone about that memory, so anyone that knew about it must have got from Patrick in some other way (written in a piece of papper on a notebook for an instance).

For all I know Kirkland is not likely to be Red John himself, also it would be too obvious.
But Bertram and Bob Kirkland on previous episodes have showed mutual respect and complicity. Therefore we can consider that all the information Kirkland got from breaking into Patrick's "office" is also available to Bertram.


One fact was still without explanation even with the end of the season: why did Patrick smile on episode 19 when he returned to his office and noticed that someone had broke in? Why wasn't he upset even for a second?

In my opinion Patrick planted the information on his room about the memory (to track the availability of his research to someone), so Kirkland got his men to run the search in Patricks room and passed on the information to Bertram, including a false (or not) one about a "happy memory". That explains the reason Patrick was not nervous when noticed someone had broke in and had access to all the sensitive information on his room. It was the plan from the start just like we see in several episodes.
The only two person that clearly had information on that room was Lisbon (when Jane let her in) and the men who stole information to give to Kirkland.
Red John can also be more than one person, still I believe Bertram is more likely.

The end of series 3 the only person who could have set up the fake John encounter in the Mall would have been Bertram.

Apart from Stiles & Bertram it is hard to see any of the other suspects having the charisma to manipulate their acolytes. Both are also follicly challenged making it easier for Hawker to confirm that Carter was not Red John.

If the producers have carried this through and not just made the suspects up  at the end of this series Bertram's build bothers me being larger than the figure that recited Tyger to the captive Jane and passed Rebecca in the corridor - unless he always gets his acolytes to do the work.

Just a thought...

Don't you think Brett is TOO obvious? I know Bruno Heller has said stuff but I wouldn't be surprised if RJ is not even on his list, as Jane was happy when they broke into his house.

If the list is legit then the safe bet is Brett with all the videos, pics, and audio from the actual show appointing him. If the writers want a twist, I guess they'll go after someone we don't expect, like Bertram. I know he doesn't have short hair, but Heller said some of the clues are fake. This clue rules out only him. He also drinks tea, is familiarized with the Tyger Tyger poem, calls Patrick 'boy wonder' in an episode, appeared in a season 3 episode (Heller said RJ appeared before season 3). 

What doesn't fit is the smiley face on the farm, which is said to have been painted by a child. This clue leaves out all grown ups from the list. Help me here. This theory is based on the writers not being idiots.

Firstly, I don't personally think that it is Gale Bertram, I just wanted to share my thoughts on why it COULD be him. 

The majority of theories on here that disagree with Gale Bertram being Red John state that it can't be him due to Rosalind Harker's description of Red John's hair.  

"Short straight hair" - it could be entirely plausible that Red John wore a wig to cover up his lack of hair. That would mean that it would be possible for the the balding suspects to be Red John. 

As well as this, (though even I find this doubtful) Rosalind may have been reciting the description that Red John told her to. She would have done anything for him, so maybe this is one of those things.