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Shopping Centers Today -> October 2003
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ICSC NAMES PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL AFTER RIORDAN
BY DEBRA HAZEL
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| John T. Riordan |
ICSC has renamed its school for professional education the John T. Riordan School for Professional Development, after its vice chairman, who retired in July.
“He is and has always been passionate about education and was instrumental in professionalizing ICSC’s educational programs,” said Michael P. Kercheval, ICSC’s president and CEO, and Riordan’s successor. “There is no more fitting person to be recognized with this honor, nor a more appropriate way to honor John’s contributions to the shopping center industry,” Kercheval added.
Riordan has a long-standing background in education, having begun his career as a high school teacher before moving into publishing. He also served as chairman of the Center for Real Estate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as holding advisory positions at the Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the Business School of Baruch College, City University of New York.
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He joined ICSC in 1982, serving as president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, when he was named vice chairman. During Riordan’s 21-year tenure at ICSC, membership quadrupled to nearly 40,000 in more than 70 countries.
Under Riordan’s leadership, ICSC expanded its education offerings from the one-day institute they comprised in 1958 to today’s weeklong school focusing on shopping center management, marketing and leasing. Founded in 1992, the ICSC School for Professional Development has trained nearly 9,000 professionals to date.
“The School for Professional Development provides shopping center industry professionals with a solid foundation on how the dynamics of this great industry works,” Riordan said. “I have always known the importance of educating our members, and I am grateful and proud to have the School for Professional Development named in my honor.”
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At press time Riordan was serving as interim executive director of the ICSC Educational Foundation, established in 1988 by ICSC’s Board of Trustees to promote and support graduate-level programs, institutes and centers involved in the study of the real estate and retail fields.
Since 1998, the foundation has supported such educational institutions as Harvard University’s School of Design, the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California and Columbia University’s Business School.
Earlier this year the foundation established the John T. Riordan Professional Education Scholarship, which is designed to be used toward retail real estate studies at the association’s schools.
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