Arthur Coppola to retire from Macerich

Macerich Chairman and CEO Arthur M. Coppola will retire at the end of this year, the company announced Thursday.

Coppola became a founding partner of the original Macerich Group in 1976, overseeing its transformation and growth from a private development company with a total market capitalization of $600 million into a publicly traded S&P 500 corporation with market cap exceeding $16 billion.

Steven Hash, an independent member of the board since May 2015 and the board’s lead independent director since August, has been named independent chairman. The board has initiated a search for a replacement.

“Mr. Coppola has provided visionary leadership for the company since its formation in 1993 and its initial public offering in 1994,” the company said in a prepared statement. Today Macerich has 48 retail properties, totaling 54 million square feet.

"I am extremely proud of Macerich's operational and strategic achievements, including consistently being ahead of the curve as retail has transformed,” said Coppola in the press release. “I am especially excited to see Macerich's centers becoming America's new town squares and downtowns and [to witness] Macerich emerge as a leader in developing digitally native, vertically integrated brands — the fastest-growing digital-commerce channel that exists today."