Mitchell Schear

Senior Real Estate Executive

Mitchell Schear is a senior real estate executive with over 40 years of experience leading both public and private real estate companies, plus extensive Board service. His expertise combines deep finance, investment, operations, and development expertise--with a focus on innovation. Mr. Schear was President of Vornado/Charles E. Smith from 2003-2017, where he directed thestrategy, performance, and growth of Vornado’s extensive 20+ million square foot portfolio, based in the Washington metropolitan region. His placemaking vision transformed the Crystal City (now“National Landing”) submarket in Arlington, Virginia into a vibrant, creative/tech community that paved the way for Amazon’s hotly contested HQ2 selection in 2018.

Prior to Vornado, Mr. Schear was President of The Kaempfer Company a private real estate company, which developed and managed highly creative trophy properties in Washington DC. Through his leadership, Kaempfer merged with Vornado/Charles E. Smith in 2003. Then in 2017, Mr. Schear directed the spin-off Vornado’s Washington portfolio by structuring and completing the $8.4 billion merger of Vornado/Charles E. Smith with the JBG Companies to create the largest publicly traded REIT focused on Washington D.C. area assets.

Most recently, Mr. Schear served as Executive Partner at Camber Creek, one of the largest venture capital firms focused exclusively on real estate technology. In this position, he identified early-stage, industry-leading portfolio companies that could accelerate the pace of real estate innovation across the globe, while returning outsized value to their investors.

Mr. Schear has served as both Board Chair and Member of numerous private and public boards, task forces and advisory committees. His experience includes leadership on boards of JBG Smith, Events DC, the DC Building Industry Association, the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, and the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Real Estate Advisory Board. For several years, Mr. Schear was Board Chair of Higher Achievement where he rallied the business community to raise more than $1 million annually to help at-risk middle school kids succeed.

Since 2021, Mr. Schear has served on Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents Facilities Committee where he provides leadership and oversight for the revitalization of the vast real estate holdings of the Smithsonian, as well as the development of two new museums.

Mr. Schear holds a BA from Hobart College and an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business.