Michael Johnston

Partner, Acquisitions & Asset Management at Menlo Equities

Speaker

Michael Johnston is a Partner at Menlo Digital, responsible for investment sourcing, acquisitions, and asset management across the firm’s data center portfolio. In addition, he oversees activities around site selection, leasing, and capital allocation for the firm’s funds and investment accounts. Beginning in 2020, Michael also co-led the launch and capitalization of the firm’s dedicated data center platform.

Michael has been at Menlo Equities, Menlo Digital’s parent company, for over 18 years, where he has held roles in acquisitions, asset and portfolio management, and capital raising, including leading the firm’s data center investment activities. Over his career, he has overseen more than $5 billion of real estate transactions, the leasing of over 3 million square feet to leading corporations—including Akamai, Apple, HP Enterprise, Nvidia, and Palo Alto Networks—and the development of over 4 million square feet of technology real estate nationwide.

Michael holds a BA from Northwestern University, where he currently serves on its regional leadership council. He is active in ULI, NAIOP and PREA, where he is a member of ULI’s data center council and was previously President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of NAIOP and served on its National Board of Directors.