Mitch Bonanno named first chief real estate officer at Johns Hopkins

Mitch Bonanno, who has more than 25 years of real estate development and construction operations experience, will join Johns Hopkins next week as its first chief real estate officer.

Bonanno, former senior vice president and director of development for Vornado/Charles E. Smith of Arlington, Virginia, was selected after a national search conducted by university and health system senior leadership. He will work within the Johns Hopkins Facilities & Real Estate office to support a broad range of university and health system activities.

His hiring was announced Wednesday in an email from Daniel Ennis, senior vice president for finance and administration; Robert Kasdin, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Bob McLean, vice president for facilities and real estate.

"The search committee is thrilled with Mitch's appointment," they wrote, "and believes he will make significant contributions to achieving excellence in Johns Hopkins' teaching, research, patient care, and service missions through his leadership in managing the university's and health system's current real estate portfolio and preparing to meet the long-term real estate requirements of both institutions."

At Vornado, where he has worked for the past decade, Bonanno galvanized the company's growth through strategic partnerships, acquisitions, development, and major asset repositioning. He led Vornado's largest and most complex strategic initiative in the region—the establishment of a new vision for Crystal City, a neighborhood in Arlington in which the company has an 8-million-square-foot portfolio.

Prior to his time with Vornado, Bonanno was a development executive with Clark Real Estate Advisors, LLC, an investment and development consulting firm based in Bethesda, Maryland. He also brings expertise in the strategic, business, and technical facets of the project development cycle acquired during his years with Clark Construction and Crimson Partners, L.C.

Bonanno earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Maryland as well as a Master of Science in Real Estate from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.