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Shopping Centers Today -> July 2003
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VETS SHARE WISDOM WITH NEWCOMERS
Some of the industry’s most successful players seem to have taken indirect paths to their careers, veterans told newcomers at a panel session at the Spring Convention.
“It was not at all what I intended to do after college,” said John M. Ingram, vice chairman of The Mills Corp. and an ICSC past chairman.
The discussion, titled “Next Generation,” was part of a program ICSC established last year to bring industry newcomers into contact with their more seasoned counterparts.
ICSC past Chairman Gary D. Rappaport, SCSM, SCMD, CLS, president and CEO of the McLean, Va.-based Rappaport Cos., got his start building homes when he was in his early 20s.
Michael Lowenkron, vice president and director of real estate at J.C. Penney, said the retailer hired him after he’d been “rejected by 100 law firms in New York.
“You’re going to need some luck somewhere along the line,” Lowenkron said. Help from peers will be necessary too, he added. “It is relationships — and it’s relationships you’re going to have the rest of your life.”
This fast-paced industry has plenty of room for new professionals willing to learn, but beginners need all the help they can get from the veterans, said Rappaport.
In addition to making the Next Generation program an annual event at the Spring Convention, organizers also intend to hold regional meetings. (For more Spring Convention coverage, click here.)
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