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Shopping Centers Today -> March 2002
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RAPPAPORT TAPPED AS NEXT ICSC CHAIRMAN
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| Gary D. Rappaport |
The nominating committee of ICSC’s board of trustees has announced that it intends to nominate developer Gary D. Rappaport, SCSM, SCMD, CLS, as the organization’s chairman for the 2002-2003 term.
Rappaport, 51, is president and CEO of the Vienna, Va.-based Rappaport Cos., which builds, buys and manages shopping centers throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
A keen participant in ICSC’s activities for almost 20 years, this developer of smaller centers has served on the ICSC board of trustees since 1998 and is Eastern Division vice president. He is also vice chairman of operations for the national Government Affairs Committee and has testified before Congress and at the state government level on many issues important to the industry. Rappaport was appointed to the Committee on ICSC PAC Management in 2000.
“With the government more and more involved in our businesses, this implicit partnership is an important part of what we need to be focused on,” he said. “It’s important that we continue to educate the public and officials of the benefits of our business and of the benefits of retail.”
Retail development plays a central role in the prosperity of American communities, he observed, noting that property taxes and retail sales tax revenues contribute a large proportion of the money needed to run municipal services.
“We have to have everyone recognize that retail is the catalyst, the anchor of the communities that we live in,” he said.
ICSC’s volunteers have an important role to play in forging and maintaining a close relationship with public officials, especially those at the state and local levels, Rappaport said, explaining that he favors expanding the organization’s Alliance Program that has been set up to accomplish this partnership goal.
Rappaport also said he wants to ensure that ICSC is fully serving its members, to help them both meet the challenges of an evolving industry and cope with a harsher economic climate.
If, as is expected, he is confirmed at ICSC’s May 19-22 Spring Convention in Las Vegas, he will be the 43rd chairman of the 38,500-member retail real estate development organization.
Originally from New York City, Rappaport now lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Daphne, and four daughters.
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