The Short Version

• JP Suarez, formally installed as ICSC chair on Dec. 4, brings deep Walmart real estate and international experience to the role.
• His time at Walmart included major store expansion, prototype simplification and global acquisitions like Massmart.
• Suarez emphasizes the long-term importance of site selection and disciplined growth strategies.
• As ICSC chair, he aims to advance innovation through ICSC+PROPTECH and strengthen talent pipelines for the Marketplaces Industry.

How New ICSC Chair JP Suarez Learned Real Estate Drives Retail Success

JP Suarez may have followed an unconventional route to the world of retail real estate,

but it is one that served him well. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 1991, he embarked upon a public service career that included stints in New Jersey as assistant U.S. attorney and as director of gaming enforcement and in Washington, D.C., as assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency. Suarez was formally gaveled in as ICSC’s new chair on Dec. 4.

The EPA job changed his career trajectory, however. He met Walmart executives during the confirmation process and continued to work with them afterward to discuss and explain regulatory policy, just as he did with other corporations. Eventually, Walmart asked if he’d be interested in private-sector work. The prospect of putting three kids through college on a government salary convinced Suarez and his wife to explore the opportunity.

In early 2004, Suarez traded the halls of government power for the hub of retail power in Bentonville, Arkansas. The move came with some culture shock: The big story above the fold in the local newspaper shortly after he arrived in Bentonville, he reminisced, was that an Outback Steakhouse was opening.

“I was pretty certain that I wanted to be a prosecutor for my whole career,” said Suarez, who was formally gaveled in as ICSC’s new chair on Dec. 4. “I loved the public service and trial aspects of that work. And then I was happy in my EPA role. We figured we would be in Bentonville for three years and then move on to something else, but as I immersed myself in the business, I found that I really loved retail. It is exciting, dynamic and fast-paced.”

Discovering a New Side of Retail

Though Suarez started out on retail’s legal side as general counsel of Sam’s Club, he enjoyed other aspects of the business, especially the immediate feedback on product display, mix and pricing decisions. He became general counsel for Walmart International in 2008. Two years later, Doug McMillon — then president and CEO of Walmart International and now president and CEO of Walmart Inc. — asked Suarez to lead international business development for the retailer. Suarez recalls McMillon saying: “We know you’re a lawyer, but we think you’re a businessperson. You just don’t know it yet.’”

In that new role, Suarez hastened Walmart’s international expansion in two ways. He oversaw the acquisition of retailers globally, including 51% of South Africa-based retailer Massmart in 2011, and he led new store development. The position thrust him into the center of Walmart’s real estate strategy, and it was around that time that he began to attend ICSC’s premier Las Vegas event. After many more years participating in various ICSC events, conferences and shows, he was invited to join ICSC’s board of trustees.

“The more I got involved in ICSC, the more I learned and gained insight about trends in retail real estate,” he said. “I listened to developers, capital markets people and retailer peers talk about challenges and the direction the industry was going. It accelerated my education.”

In 2012, Suarez joined Walmart’s U.S. real estate group — focusing on strategy, design and construction — where he learned “all the nuts and bolts of Walmart’s real estate business,” he said. Two years later, he became president of the company’s U.S. realty division, overseeing a development program that expanded the fleet by some 1,000 stores to more than 4,000 Neighborhood Markets, Supercenters, Sam’s Clubs and Walmart Expresses, the latter a short-lived pilot. The time was one of the retailer’s most ambitious growth periods and included opening 100 Neighborhood Markets in one month alone, Suarez said. “We had the support of our senior executives, but we acted with a lot of discipline around choosing where and how to grow,” he explained. “It was a very dynamic time to be part of the real estate group and a lot of fun.”

Building a Stronger Store Fleet

Suarez’s involvement in Walmart’s real estate functions impressed upon him the critical role the site selection process plays. Rather than delegating decisions farther down in the organization, for example, Walmart determined which locations to pursue via executive sessions that included the CEO, he said.

The approach emphasized convenience, visibility, access and parking to ensure Walmart sites would be as strong or even stronger in 30 years. And rather than automatically homing in on the priciest corner in a market, the company scouted out parcels that were destined to become Main-and-Main locations, aiming to identify them a few years before the broader market realized it, Suarez added. “We all knew how important getting the site decision right from start was to the success of our company, and I loved that challenge,” he remarked. “You can make merchandising mistakes, but you can mark down products and move them out of the store. And you can make operations mistakes by hiring the wrong people, but you can correct that by moving in the right people. But if you choose a bad location, there is little you can do to make it a good one.”

Suarez’s stint in the realty division included an effort to shore up Walmart’s store-maintenance and -remodeling programs. It also was a period in which the retailer harmonized the size of its Supercenters. The first Supercenter opened in 1988 and eventually became the standard prototype as the company phased out development of the early renditions, which were smaller and known as Division One stores.

When he headed the realty division, the company officially had about five Supercenter designs. But in reality, the portfolio featured various sizes and building configurations, he said. The lack of uniformity tended to complicate product procurement, shelf-space optimization and distribution center inventory, especially in smaller, lower-volume locations, he added.

Consequently, the division began simplifying design and created three Supercenter prototypes — small, medium and large — to be deployed based on market demand. The efficiency was a balm. “Going forward, we knew we weren’t going to be adding complexity to the business,” he said, “so our new-store program got healthier because we were opening stronger and better stores.”

A Return to the World Stage

Suarez’s final assignments at Walmart included a return to an international role before he retired in 2023. Among other endeavors, he oversaw the $371 million purchase of Massmart’s outstanding shares in 2022. He also led the technology, global leverage, and supply chain relationship-management teams in his regions — which included Argentina, Canada and Chile — during the time when the pandemic was upending operations.

A New Chapter Beyond Bentonville

Because their two daughters and son had moved on, Suarez and his wife left Bentonville upon his retirement, albeit 17 years later than they’d originally thought. By then, what qualified as a big story in town went well beyond an Outback opening. Northwest Arkansas has transformed into a recreation and tourist hub with help from Walmart, members of the company’s founding Walton family and affiliated foundations. Among those contributions was funding for nearly 300 miles of paved paths and mountain bike trails and the development of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Walmart’s headquarters presence also has helped fuel population growth: Today 605,600 people live in Benton, Washington and Madison counties, up from 375,000 in 2005.

“The investment that Walmart and the Walton family have made in their home market has been nothing short of extraordinary, and we loved our time there,” Suarez said. “Bentonville is a pretty cool place and is fun and attractive for families and young singles. We really had some mixed feelings leaving.”

Despite retiring in 2023, Suarez remains active in the Marketplaces Industry. He serves on the boards of Brixmor and EPR Properties but now has more time to visit his children and grandkids and to spend summers in Carbondale, Colorado. He and his wife of 31 years now live in Cape Coral, Florida, staying active with hiking, biking and pickleball among other recreational outlets.

Championing Innovation and the Next Generation

For the next year, serving as chair of ICSC will occupy some of that free time.

Through his career at Walmart in real estate and other functions, Suarez recognized the vital role that real estate plays in retail success, especially during times of uncertainty. Toward the end of his time with Walmart, he relied on his real estate skills to optimize the technology and supply chain parts of the business. In turn, those disciplines, which were new to him, reinforced his appreciation for ICSC’s mission: to engage a diverse membership base to advance the Marketplaces Industry. “ICSC brings the real estate and retail pieces together to create a forum where everyone is discussing and debating how to make the industry better for everybody,” he said. “I want to continue to foster that environment to make the industry healthier and stronger.”

Programs that Suarez is eager to advance include ICSC’s initiative to launch a property technology event on the ICSC LAS VEGAS show floor in 2026. ICSC+PROPTECH will help attendees envision how innovations like artificial intelligence will influence shopping center performance and operations, as well as shopper behaviors and patterns, he said. Additionally, engaging the industry’s next generation of talent remains a high priority.

“Retailers are talking about new store growth, so we know that the industry is alive and well,” he said. “But we need more young people to look at real estate as a hugely important part of the retail industry and as an attractive career choice.”