ICSC president and CEO Tom McGee has received two prestigious awards of late: a Gold Stevie Award in the 24th annual American Business Awards as Best Host in the Podcast Category and recognition as a GlobeSt Influencer in Retail Real Estate 2026.
ICSC president and CEO Tom McGee
Stevie Award-Winning From Where I Sit With Tom McGee Podcast
As president and CEO of ICSC for over a decade, McGee has served as a leading voice for retail and commercial real estate. He launched the From Where I Sit With Tom McGee podcast, which explores the forces shaping America’s built economy and is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. He and his guests, prominent leaders and innovators, offer their expertise on the most pressing topics impacting the future of our communities for ICSC’s 50,000 members and others in the industry.
Since the podcast launched in fall 2024, it has racked up more than 12,000 downloads. Both downloads and followers have grown by an average of 2% every week, and From Where I Sit consistently places in the top 25% of podcasts by downloads. And momentum continues.
From Where I Sit’s insights on technology, policy and evolving consumer behavior advance industry dialogue and chart the path forward for the marketplaces where people shop, dine, work, play and gather. Season 2, episode 1 , for example, features Accruent president Richard Leurig, a leader in the technology driving commercial real estate forward. In that episode, McGee and Leurig discussed the evolving property technology landscape, exploring how AI is transforming building operations, enhancing space utilization through data and shaping the future with emerging technologies like self-healing buildings.
The Stevie Award highlights McGee’s warm and engaging conversational style and insightful comments and questions, which get at the basics of the topics at hand and dig deep into his guests’ unique subject matter expertise — all of which both informs and inspires.
Other guests have included Raj Singh, managing partner of JLL Spark, the commercial services company’s corporate venture capital arm; Randi Zuckerberg, an early employee at Facebook and now founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media; M.M.LaFleur founder and CEO Sarah LaFleur; Don Tepman, the retail real estate entrepreneur behind the StripMallGuy social media channels; Ed Stack, who served as Dick’s Sporting Goods’ chair and CEO for nearly 40 years; former U.S. Representative and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Kevin Brady; and Fifth Wall chief investment officer and CEO Brendan Wallace.
GlobeSt Influencers in Retail Real Estate 2026
The podcast certainly played a role in McGee’s recognition on among the GlobeSt Influencers in Retail Real Estate 2026. Additionally, McGee leads ICSC in convening top-tier professionals and decisionmakers through annual events like ICSC LAS VEGAS, ICSC NEW YORK and ICSC+PROPTECH, an event launching this month to connect commercial real estate decisionmakers with property technology innovators. These high-impact events offer ICSC members the insights they need about emerging trends and set the agenda for the industry, attracting tens of thousands of attendees annually. McGee also spearheaded the RETAIL REAL ESTATE SUMMIT presented by ICSC at Blueprint, creating a platform for industry leaders to explore emerging trends and solutions in retail real estate, and led the rollout of ICSC RETAIL FORWARD, a series of one-day events to accelerate local dealmaking and support economic revitalization.
He also serves as a thought leader for the industry across top-tier business and broadcast media, including recent appearances in The New York Times, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Forbes and The Robin Report’s Retail Unwrapped podcast to discuss timely news and ICSC’s proprietary research. He amplifies his thought leadership through his social media presence, including his From Where I Sit newsletter on LinkedIn, which goes out to almost 2,300 subscribers, his own nearly 5,000 LinkedIn followers and followers of ICSC.
McGee further advances the industry narrative by directing ICSC’s thoughtware, including a recent report in collaboration with McKinsey called Shopping in the Age of AI: Redefining Stores for a New Era.
And he demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the career advancement of young professionals, advocating for new talent through the ICSC Foundation, which has awarded millions in academic scholarships to students interested in careers in commercial real estate and has coordinated nearly 1,000 mentorship pairings. Under his leadership, the ICSC Foundation’s 2025 year-end campaign raised $244,000 to expand resources for scholarships, mentorship and professional development programs in support of students. Additionally, the ICSC Foundation’s inaugural online auction was a resounding success, raising nearly $50,000 to empower students and emerging professionals to thrive and shape the future of retail real estate, underscoring McGee’s commitment to developing emerging talent.
McGee also lends his voice on Capitol Hill, alongside the ICSC Office of Government Relations & Public Policy and ICSC members, throughout the year, including the annual ICSC Federal Fly-In. At the 35th Fly-In, held last month, McGee and others met with congressional offices to advance solutions on organized retail crime, brownfields redevelopment, Terrorism Risk Insurance Act reauthorization and adaptive reuse, issues that directly impact communities, jobs and economic growth.