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Cracks showing in glass ceiling as more female execs rise to the top

By Debra Hazel

It’s a business whose customers overwhelmingly are women. Yet the largest, most successful shopping center companies are run by men, a fact that has not gone unnoticed, even by one of the industry’s most powerful tenants: In his keynote speech at ICSC’s Spring Convention in May, Gap CEO Millard “Mickey’’ Drexler used his platform to bemoan the lack of women on the dais behind him.

But that disparity may be on the wane, albeit slowly, despite the industry’s recent consolidation. Over the past few years, women have been making steady inroads into the most senior levels of management.

“There certainly has been progress,” said Catherine W. Stephenson, COO of the retail group of Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Atlanta. “Some people are in significant positions, and there is room for more and more.”

While no specific numbers are available, women appear to be doing far better in the shopping center arena than in U.S. industry overall or even in other real estate sectors. And extensive discussions with many of the highest-ranking women in the industry show a great deal of hope that the female pioneers will be joined by more women in shattering what remains of the glass ceiling.

“We have definitely fractured it,” said Rebecca L. Maccardini, SCMD, president of Rebecca Maccardini Resources, Ann Arbor, Mich., and ICSC’s first and — thus far — only female chairman (1993-94). “While we are not too frequently up to CEO and COO, we still have a number of women heading major divisions.”

In addition to Stephenson, women hold the presidencies of Miami-based Terranova Corp. and Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Realty Corp. as well as executive vice presidencies and higher roles at such companies as Taubman Centers, The Mills Corp., Garrick-Aug Worldwide and others. (For profiles, see story page 71.)

In comparison, U.S. industry overall sports few women in top spots, though the situation is improving: According to the “1999 Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners” by nonprofit women’s group Catalyst, women constitute 5.1% of individuals holding the title of chairman, CEO, vice chairman, COO, senior executive vice president and executive vice president at Fortune 500 companies. That figure is up from 2.4% in 1995.

Mary Lou Fiala President & COO Regency Realty Corp.	Judith Berson Executive Vice President of Leasing The Mills Corp.
Catherine W. Stephenson Chief Operating Officer Retail Group Jones Lang LaSalle Americas	Faith Hope Consolo Vice Chairman Garrick-Aug Worldwide
Beth Azor President Terranova Corp.	Shari Simon Vice President Corporate Marketing Simon Property Group
Lisa A. Payne EVP and CFO Taubman Centers	Susie Rice President RMC/Konover Property Trust
Charlotte Ellis, SCMD Senior Vice President of Marketing Konover Property Trust

Lisa A. Payne, Taubman Centers’ CFO and executive vice president, noted that in her former position in investment banking, she often was the only woman in the room when meeting with a client. “I was either dealing with the CEO or CFO, and very few CFOs are women,” she said.

Other sectors of real estate are proving harder for a woman to crack. Women hold executive vice president or higher titles at just three of National Real Estate Investor’s most recent top 50 property managers list (the list includes all forms of real estate management, including retail).

“The head of one real estate organization called and asked me to speak at their convention, saying that they had no women speakers. My guess is that they couldn’t find a woman in other sectors,” said Susie Rice, president of RMC/Konover Property Trust, Tampa, Fla. “I don’t know that many high-powered women in office or industrial.”

That may be because other forms of real estate, such as apartments, still are more entrepreneurial, Payne said.

“They’re run by just one man, so there’s no career path,” she said.

Even in retail, women chief executives are few and far between. Though some high-profile women such as Saks Fifth Avenue’s President and CEO Christina Johnson have broken through to the top spots, women comprise just 14.5% of corporate officers among general merchandisers and 11.9% of specialty retail officers, according to an industry-specific analysis of the Fortune 500 compiled by New York City-based Catalyst. (Catalyst does not track the real estate business.) The situation is even worse abroad.

“On an international level, there are very few women unless she’s a designer,” such as a Miuccia Prada, said Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman of broker Garrick-Aug Worldwide, New York City, and a past president of the Association of Real Estate Women. “Even so, they don’t run the company or make the decisions.”

So, women’s progress at the retail end of the real estate spectrum may be an anomaly. Of course, many would say that a female presence at the most senior levels would be critical in an industry that markets primarily to women, and that more progress should have been made.

“I do sit with a lot of men who talk about shopping, and they don’t even shop,” said Tracey Hall, SCMD, vice president of TrizecHahn Europe, London, and a past ICSC trustee.

But women historically don’t build shopping centers. The lack of women in construction, and the very few in substantial development roles, has hindered their progress thus far: The industry was founded by (male) contractors at a time (the 1940s and 1950s) when most women were not working outside the home. More than a half-century later, women developers such as Molly Madsen South, CMD, a partner at Lake Forest, Ill.-based Moor & South, remain the exception rather than the rule.

In addition, women traditionally have dominated the industry’s marketing sector. Another major problem blocking women from the top spots at shopping center companies is that they’re already filled by very competent men who aren’t leaving, said Judith Berson, executive vice president of leasing for The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va.

“I’ve been at this company for 11 years and been executive vice president three or four years. Once people get to this level, there’s a certain degree of loyalty, and there are golden handcuffs,” she said. Furthermore, industry consolidations have eliminated a number of potential top posts, she added.

That eventually should change. While trade organizations such as ICSC and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts do not track their membership by gender, industry observers note that the number of women working in retail real estate is increasing. Societal changes, such as the exploding number of women entering the workforce in the 1970s and 1980s, are starting to be felt as those women progress through their careers.

In addition, the industry’s change in focus from development to management is helping women rise, noted Jodie McLean, chief investment officer of Edens & Avant, Columbia, S.C.

“Retail is different from other aspects of real estate, and always has been,” said Michelle Panovich, partner at Mid-America Real Estate, Chicago.

“Retail is more comfortable with boutique vendors, so there is less of an IBM/AT&T mentality.”

That has resulted in the progress seen thus far.

“When I graduated from college in 1988, there were three people in my business class. Now it’s 50% women,” said Rice of RMC/Konover. “My company is predominantly women; all my leasing agents are women.”

That trend should continue as more women pursue business degrees.

“There is an increase in the number of women taking classes. But don’t forget, this is a 1990s phenomenon. Are these women running corporations? No. They’re too young. It takes time to get to that level,” said Joseph Gyourko, head of the Wharton School of Business’ real estate division.

Most observers believe that more women eventually will get there, as the industry shifts from a building to a management focus. Financial knowledge is critical, particularly in a maturing industry increasingly dominated by publicly held companies.

“I see women getting into the financial end of real estate rather than development,” said ICSC Trustee Kathleen Nelson, managing director at TIAA-CREF, New York City, the giant pension fund. “With so many public companies now, it’s more applicable. In addition, there’s very little active development, though there is refurbishing.”

Until a number of shopping center companies went public, a strong financial officer wasn’t needed, Taubman’s Payne noted.

“As these companies get bigger, they need highly qualified financial people, and there’s a lot of women in that pool,” she said.

But equally important to the promotion of women is the willingness of those now in charge to break the old-boy network.

“In our company, we have a 10-person operating committee, and four are women. Take it to the VP level, and you add even more women. I give Bob Taubman full credit. He looks for the right people. It wouldn’t have mattered if I were black, white, male or female,” said Payne, who with President and CEO Robert Taubman and Executive Vice President William Taubman, constitutes the company’s executive committee.

Smaller companies may present an even better opportunity. Regency Realty President Mary Lou Fiala notes that her skills and background as a former Macy’s executive and finance executive complement those of chairman Martin E. (Hap) Stein.

“Ninety percent of the time, my gender is not an issue; 5% it’s helped me, 5%, it’s hurt me,” she said.

Beth Azor, president of Miami-based Terranova Corp., said her professional relationship with Terranova Chairman Steven Bittel also was critical to her career, she said.

“I was very lucky. Steven is very pro-women,” Azor said. “I had a mentor who is gender-blind. And this is a small company. It’s not a Mills or a Simon.”

Yet those companies, too, have high-ranking women such as Berson, who is committed to advancing staff, female or male.

“I think it’s helpful for women in my group because they have me as a mentor,” Berson said.

Terranova’s property management and finance directors both are women.

“Women have a better eye for detail, and for what we do here, attention to detail is critical. I don’t go out and say, ‘I only want a woman,’ but it just happens that my entire executive team is women,” Azor said.

As chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle’s diversity council, Stephenson is developing training programs for both staff and management that will encourage mentoring and retaining good women and minority staff.

“From a business perspective, it is important to promote diversity in our industry. We’ll be more responsive to our employees,” she said.

But ultimately, say these high-powered women, gender really doesn’t matter; talent and production do.

“Our company probably was more male-dominated when I started,” said McLean, who joined Edens & Avant 10 years ago. “But there was always equal opportunity. I never felt I couldn’t get where I was going because I was a woman. Getting to be where I am is more a result of persistence, hard work and competence.”