Bonadies earned a master’s degree in art conservation with a certificate of advanced study from the Cooperstown Graduate Program at State University College at Oneonta, N.Y., and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, cum laude, from the University of Rochester. He also studied non-profit management at the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.
Before joining the Cincinnati Art Museum, he worked in conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and for the Friuli Italian Art and Monument Committee in Cividale del Friuli, Italy, and served as a lecturer in conservation science at the Cooperstown Graduate Program.