When Aris Melissaratos first arrived in Maryland, he was 13 years old and spoke not a word of English. His parents had brought him to the United States as they escaped communism from Romania and economic hardship. Now, Melissaratos is known throughout Maryland and the region for his entrepreneurship, work ethic, community involvement, and leadership.

In 2007, Melissaratos joined Johns Hopkins University as Senior Advisor to the President for Enterprise Development, bringing his career full-circle since receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Hopkins in 1966. After graduation, Melissaratos began his 32-year career at Westinghouse Electronics Corporation, where he held numerous positions in Baltimore and at the company’s corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh.

“Johns Hopkins University is the number one research institute in the world, conducting $1.7 billion worth or research annually. It is one of five Carnegie Research Institutions in the state,” Melissaratos affirms, “There’s a lot of academic strength here [in Maryland].”

“This corridor is so rich in the world’s technological thought process.”

In 2011, Hopkins helped launched 19 new companies, the most they have ever established in a year. “It culminated a four-year period where we spun out 51 companies. They may be located globally, but a lot of them are local,” Melissaratos said.

Another project to which Melissaratos has dedicated himself over the past year is BHI, Bio-Health Innovations. This regional initiative is a public-private partnership intent on accelerating the development and growth of life science companies.

Aliza Rosen wrote a full article on the event, which was published on February 17, 2012, in Corridor Inc, from where info for this story was taken.