Cushman & Wakefield Hires John Barros, Ex-Economic Development Chief Who Ran For Mayor
Cushman & Wakefield is naming John Barros, the former Boston economic development chief and two-time mayoral candidate, to lead its New England market activities.
Barros will be the firm’s managing principal of Boston beginning Nov. 29, Cushman & Wakefield said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. The son of Cape Verdean immigrants, he’ll be the first person of color to run a major brokerage in Boston, The Boston Globe reported.
“I am thrilled to be joining Cushman & Wakefield, which has long-solidified itself as one of Boston’s leading commercial real estate services firms,” Barros said in a statement. “The firm already has a strong talent roster in Boston and I’m looking forward to working alongside these fantastic professionals.”
Barros recently finished fifth in September’s Boston mayoral primary election behind front-runner and eventual Boston Mayor Michelle Wu after resigning in February from his City Hall position. Barros was Boston’s chief of economic development from 2014-21 in former Mayor Martin Walsh’s administration, a boom period for development. The firm was drawn to Barros because of his leadership skills and extensive local experience, Cushman & Wakefield East Region President Roberta Liss said in a release.
During his time at Boston City Hall, Barros was a liaison between the city and its businesses. He recently organized efforts between business owners and city officials to cope with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Barros saw the pandemic’s financial consequences firsthand as co-owner and founder of Restaurante Cesaria in Dorchester, learning from his own experiences how to help other small businesses, specifically restaurants, survive shutdowns, he told Bisnow in April. During his run for mayor, Barros called for creating additional economic activity around lab developments now springing up in every corner of the city and invigorating urban centers with more amenities to draw workers back to office clusters still deprived of in-person workers.
The lifelong Bostonian is a former executive director for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, which he said was the nation’s only nonprofit to use eminent domain to assemble land, part of his first experiences working with the Boston Planning and Development Agency. The incoming Cushman leader also unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2013 before backing Walsh after a three-year stint on Boston’s School Committee.
Barros will be joined at Cushman & Wakefield by Carolyn Sidor, who will take a role as senior managing director for New England Brokerage Operations to grow the brokerage's market share and support efforts to retain and recruit employees.
