Matthew Gardner

Head of Advisory Life Sciences, Americas / CBRE

Matt Gardner leads CBRE’s Advisory Life Sciences practice in the U.S., including occupier and investor leasing as well as sales. A veteran of more than 30 years in the technology and life sciences sectors, Mr. Gardner works with CBRE professionals across U.S. life sciences hubs and emerging markets to advise clients on their real estate needs. He is based in Northern California.
Before joining CBRE in March 2022, Mr. Gardner served as CEO and co-founder of the California Biomanufacturing Center, a 500-acre industrial park in Northern California with a mix of multinational manufacturing stakeholders and a range of investment partners. CBC’s innovative practices included highly selective allowable uses, a first-in-class zoning strategy, and a governance structure designed to become an enduring community fixture.

Prior to CBC, Mr. Gardner co-founded and served on the boards of incubators across the U.S. He was a board member at the Maryland Technology Development Center, the flagship wet lab incubator in Montgomery County, Maryland. He served as Chief Evangelist on the founding team at Prospect Silicon Valley. Mr. Gardner also co-founded an accelerator program in California with federal labs, the UC system, and multiple independent research institutes.

Mr. Gardner previously served as CEO of the life sciences cluster organizations BayBio and MarylandBio, supporting hundreds of growing life sciences companies in the process.
In addition, Mr. Gardner has served as chair and a member of boards including Seeding Labs, a Boston nonprofit dedicated to building science capacity around the world; the Exploratorium, a science museum in Northern California; and at Johns Hopkins University. For more than a decade, Mr. Gardner produced the NPR show Biotech Nation. He has contributed to publications including the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, Startup Magazine, and Medtech Insight.