Former journeyman WR Malcolm Johnson always envisioned he would have a career working to build up the community. But during his years in the NFL, which included stints with the Steelers, Jets, and Bengals, he never dreamed those building blocks would involve overseeing a $1 billion portfolio of commercial real estate in neighborhoods spanning from his native Washington, DC to Southern California.
Johnson is now a senior vice president of JPMorgan Chase’s real estate banking group, a position he has held since early 2012. Johnson was hired last year to launch the firm’s real estate banking group in Los Angeles. He works with JPMorgan’s institutional real estate clients, including private equity funds, real estate operating companies, and developers to build and acquire multi- million dollar office buildings, shopping malls, apartment complexes, and industrial warehouses in markets across the United States.
“I originally thought I would be a social worker or a high school administrator. I really wanted to work in a community like the one where I was raised,” said Johnson. That community was a hard scrabble section of Northeast Washington, DC known as Langdon Park. However, by the time he reached high school, Johnson had attracted the interest of a number of universities with top football programs. He eventually decided to attend the University of Notre Dame, where he became a three-year starter at WR and earned a place in the 1999 NFL Draft – along with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
Johnson’s playing career spanned from 1999 to2003. The constant stops and starts to what was once a promising career – “I was always the fifth-best wide receiver on a team that really only had room for four players at that position” – eventually led Johnson to retire at age 25 and pursue an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.
While at Carnegie Mellon, Johnson was recruited by Bank of America to join their MBA Leadership program after graduation and work for the company in Los Angeles. Last year, JPMorgan approached Johnson after he had spent six years at Bank of America with an ask: Help the firm grow its platform in Southern California. Never one to shy away from an opportunity, Johnson jumped at the offer.
Less than two years into the new role, Johnson is working hard to make sure he keeps collecting wins for JPMorgan and bringing others along for the ride. For the past four years, he has served as a guest lecturer at the NFL's Business Management & Entrepreneurial Program at Wharton, a role he cherishes because he gets to interact with current and former players looking to make a similar transition from the NFL playing field to the corporate boardroom.
Johnson can be reached at malcolm.a.johnson@jpmorgan.com.