Meet ICSC’s New Foundation President

How did you initially get involved in philanthropic work?

I grew up in a home where charitable giving and volunteer work was a high priority. My first career was as a corporate lawyer, and outside of work I was involved in a number of nonprofit organizations. Along the way, though, I discovered I wanted to devote all of my time to the nonprofit community. My first position was as executive director of the ALS Association Greater New York Chapter. My father-in-law died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and this cause was deeply personal to my family.

How have your past experiences helped prepare you for the role as ICSC Foundation president?

Over the past 20 years, I’ve been involved in building and scaling nonprofit organizations, with experience in program creation, fundraising and strategic planning. Most recently, I served for 11 years as CEO of Let’s Get Ready, an education nonprofit that annually helps 8,300 low-income students gain admission to and graduate from college. The Let’s Get Ready blueprint for success is the engagement of thousands of volunteer college students who function as tutors, mentors and role models. Throughout my career, my focus has been the creation of high-impact programs that produce real change within our communities, and my goal is to bring this same focus to the ICSC Foundation.

What do you see for the ICSC Foundation in the future?

The retail real estate industry plays a vital role in making our communities a better place to live. ICSC is the industry leader, and by partnering with ICSC’s philanthropic members, I see a tremendous opportunity to help build stronger and caring communities and to establish a pipeline of excellence for the industry’s next generation of leaders.