Rex Hime, a longtime association executive representing ICSC and other commercial real estate associations, is stepping aside after 37 years of growing and improving the political and business climate for the industry. He will leave his longstanding post as president and CEO of the California Business Properties Association at the end of the year and will become a senior advisor to CBPA.

Known for his Hawaiian shirts, Hime began his career at CBPA in 1984 and has helped developers, landlords and tenants work with the California legislature and local governments to advance the needs of businesses and the communities they serve. Hime helped grow CBPA from fewer than 100 members to over 10,000 companies. Under his leadership, CBPA now represents all aspects of the commercial real estate industry, bringing together members from ICSC, NAIOP, BOMA and IREM to speak with one voice. 

“There’s no one like Rex,” said ICSC Global Public Policy senior vice president Betsy Laird, who has worked with him for more than a decade. She cited recent shared wins from last year that include the defeat of a split roll property tax ballot initiative, as well as stopping legislation in Sacramento that would have upended commercial leases. Hime is “smart, extraordinarily politically savvy, thinks on his feet and [is] respected on both sides of the aisle,” she said. “He is someone that you can call day or night if there is a political necessity — and someone who will call you day or night if there is a something afoot! It has been a pleasure. ICSC will miss him and wishes him well in his next chapter.”

CBPA senior vice president of governmental affairs Matthew Hargrove will succeed Hime as president and CEO.