This year’s ICSC 4 Under 40 honorees are making standout contributions to their companies and to the Marketplaces Industry. They also will serve as ICSC Next Generation Trustees for the next two years.

Rappaport Director of Leasing and Brokerage Thomas Bolen III

Growing up in a home surrounded by both real estate and musical influences, Thomas Bolen III had to make a choice. His grandfather was a residential developer, and his father was a general contractor and pianist. His grandmother sang for several renowned artists, including James Cleveland, and his father was inspired and taught by pianist and artist Billy Preston. Both of his uncles were producers and artists for major record labels.

Ultimately, Bolen chose a career in business and developed a passion for real estate. “I grew up around music, but I understood that business is universal, and that’s a skill set I wanted to develop,” he said.

Now 31, Bolen is director of leasing and brokerage at Rappaport, which manages and leases more than 160 retail properties in Washington, D.C.; Maryland; and Virginia. He joined Rappaport in 2017 and plays an integral role in the day-to-day prospecting, canvassing and business development of the firm’s portfolio assets and brokerage relationships.

Bolen is part of the team that leases Skyland Town Center, an 18.5-acre mixed-use development east of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., that serves Wards 7 and 8. The team signed Lidl, the first grocer to enter this underserved market in over 15 years. He was also instrumental in developing the strategy for the initial rollout of Raising Cane’s in the Washington, D.C., metro area. With nearly eight years of experience, he has closed more than $90 million in sale and lease transactions.

Bolen earned his bachelor’s degree in business and a Master of Business Administration from Florida A&M University and was a percussionist for FAMU’s Incomparable Marching 100 marching band. Though he entered the school with a full music scholarship, Bolen knew early on that business — in particular, real estate — was his true calling. The turning point came when guest lecturer John Crossman, then president of Florida-based Crossman & Co., asked him to start the school’s first real estate club. Bolen was hooked and even earned an ICSC scholarship that contributed to his tuition.

“I remember the first time I walked into an ICSC event,” said Bolen, who was 20 years old when he attended the ICSC Florida Legislative Summit in Tallahassee. “I knew nothing about the industry. I put on my suit, grabbed a notepad and listened. The following day, about 30 of us marched over to the Florida State Capitol and lobbied for issues that impacted our industry. It was a rush I could not explain. That night, I went home and made a commitment to serve ICSC and make a difference in the industry. All I needed was a foot in the door.”

Shortly after graduating from FAMU in 2014, he earned the 2015-16 ICSC Foundation Mary Lou Fiala Fellowship award and helped recruit diverse ICSC student members. Bolen worked at Crossman & Co. for three-and-a-half years before joining Rappaport and returning to the D.C. area to be closer to his family.

In 2020, Bolen was selected to serve in the inaugural class of ICSC’s Next Generation Leadership Network, a select group of 65 future leaders from all sectors of the Marketplaces Industry across the U.S. and Canada.

Today, Bolen is honored to be among the latest ICSC 4 Under 40. “The same passion that ran through my veins at 20 years old still continues to push me now here at Rappaport and as a professional member of ICSC,” he said.

Sterling Organization Principal Jordan Fried

Early in Jordan Fried’s life, real estate held a certain appeal. “I had always been intrigued by finance and felt real estate provided a platform to blend creativity and being entrepreneurial with finance at the highest level,” said Fried. “That made it very attractive.”

Today, Fried, 38, is one of three principals at Sterling Organization, a vertically integrated, private equity real estate investment firm with a portfolio of 74 properties totaling 12.4 million square feet. “Being a partner at a company like Sterling affords me a tremendous opportunity to influence others both within and outside of our firm, as well as in the communities in which we invest,” said Fried.

Upon graduating from The George Washington University in 2006, he worked in FTI Consulting’s real estate financial services practice in New York City until returning to school and earning a Master of Business Administration in real estate and finance from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in 2011.

Fried then worked as an investment banking associate in Wells Fargo Securities’ leveraged finance group but yearned to transition back to real estate. After months of networking and some good fortune, he joined Sterling as an associate in 2013. “We were a much smaller company when I started, and as a result, I was fortunate to work closely with the firm’s executives and gain exposure to many different aspects of the business,” he said.

In 2016, after a few years serving the investments team, Fried was promoted to lead Sterling’s operations platform, responsible for the management of the company’s nationwide shopping center portfolio. “The shift to operations required a vastly different skill set and proved to be a tremendously valuable experience,” he said.

In 2018, Sterling managing principal and CEO Brian Kosoy tapped Fried to lead the investments team, and on Jan. 1, 2022, he was named one of the firm’s three principals. Today, he leads the investments and capital markets teams — responsible for all retail acquisitions, dispositions, financings and refinancings — and sits on the investment committees for all the firm’s investment vehicles. The latest, Sterling Consumer Logistics Properties I, held its final close this year, raising $225 million to invest in consumer fulfillment and distribution real estate assets. Sterling now features four value-add retail funds, two grocery-anchored funds and its consumer logistics fund.

The ICSC 4 Under 40 is the latest in Fried’s many achievements. “To receive this recognition from peers in the industry is extremely meaningful,” he said. “It is also incredibly exciting to have an opportunity to join the ICSC Board of Trustees as a Next Gen Trustee, where I am hopeful to bring a youthful perspective to the variety of initiatives conducted by ICSC.”

One of Fried’s career aspirations is to continue to mentor the next wave of industry talent. “I’ve been extremely fortunate to have numerous accomplished executives graciously share their time and offer valuable advice throughout my career,” he said. “I am hopeful that I can provide similar coaching and mentorship for the next generation of talent as they seek to establish careers in real estate.”

At Sterling, Fried helped develop an analyst program through which the firm conducts annual on-campus college recruiting. He serves as a mentor in the ICSC Foundation Mentorship Program and previously spent time mentoring aspiring real estate students at Emory University. “At Sterling, we are highly focused on grooming talent and promoting from within,” he said. “It is extremely gratifying to see former analyst hires grow professionally and take on leadership positions within the company.”

Starwood Retail Partners COO Brian Ross

At only 38 years old, Brian Ross occupies one of the top positions at one of the world’s largest private equity firms, and his path into the Marketplaces Industry started directly out of college.

Ross graduated in 2006 with a business management degree from John Carroll University, which is just east of Cleveland, Ohio. He worked for homebuilder Pulte Homes during his senior year, and the company intended to hire him full-time after graduation. Unfortunately, that job fell through after a major corporate downsizing. “I was laid off before I even started my career,” said Ross.

Nonetheless, a fortuitous chain of events led him to the management training program at Cleveland-based Developers Diversified Realty, which became Site Centers in 2018. After meeting with DDR executive Daniel Hurwitz, Ross got his break and was placed in the leasing department after finishing the company’s management-trainee program. “It just fit my skill set and my personality really well,” he said. Ross worked at DDR for 10 years in acquisitions and dispositions, portfolio management and ultimately overseeing the national accounts leasing team. “My time at DDR was really where I grew up, where I learned to become a professional, and I got to work with and learn from a lot of influential people in the industry.”

Then in 2016, Chicago based GGP called Ross to work in its big-box leasing division. The move would mean a major life change. “At the time, my wife was six months pregnant with my daughter. My son was three, and Cleveland is home,” he said. “All my family is there, and my wife’s family is there. The concept of leaving was something that we never really thought of, but we determined it was the correct path to take.” Ultimately, Ross spent three years at GGP, which was acquired by Brookfield Properties in 2018. “I grew up at DDR, but my three years at GGP afforded me the ability to apply those principles I learned the first decade of my career, and my time at GGP prepared me for the role I have today,” he said.

In 2019, he accepted a position to run Starwood Capital Group’s retail leasing team. Ross had been on the job for only six months before the pandemic hit, and during a management reshuffle in 2020, he was promoted to COO. In 2021, the company put him in charge of Starwood’s retail portfolio.

Now, recognition as an ICSC 4 Under 40 is another major achievement.  “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by the trade organization that is at the heart of our business,” said Ross. “It really doesn’t get much better than that. ICSC truly represents all the things that are good within retail real estate.”

Sembler Vice President of Leasing Eve Sembler

Raised in one of Florida’s oldest real estate families, Sembler’s vice president of leasing Eve Sembler views her recognition as an ICSC 4 Under 40 as a dream come true.

Her grandfather Mel Sembler founded the firm, and her father, Greg, is CEO now. The company recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, having developed more than 350 retail projects throughout the southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico. Those projects total almost 30 million square feet, and the company leases and manages 9 million square feet across 56 properties and has a development pipeline of 13 grocery-anchored centers, plus an additional 2.6 million square feet. “My dad brought me to my first ICSC conference when I was 14,” said Eve Sembler, who turned 30 in August.

“They made me a scavenger hunt, so I had to go around the show floor and ask people trivia questions. That really pushed me to start up conversations with strangers and learn more about the industry, which was really fun.” She also attended a leasing meeting. “Seeing the magic of that meeting, it all clicked for me,” she said. “And that is what I wanted to do.”

Sembler earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2014 from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied finance and marketing and minored in American cultural studies. While there, she interned with Brixmor, and she got hooked on the experience. “All I wanted to do after college was go work at Brixmor in the national accounts team,” she said.

That wish became a reality after graduation. Sembler joined Brixmor’s national accounts team in New York, focusing on direct-to-franchisee leasing. “It was a really cool job because Brixmor had a very large portfolio and my job was to go through the existing portfolio and all of the existing franchisees and reach out to them to see if they wanted to open a second or third location,” she said.

Brixmor soon promoted Eve to the peripheral leasing team, and she eventually became vice president of that group, managing more than 90 accounts and supporting the marketing, negotiations and delivery of more than 200 outparcel leases across four regions.

She joined Sembler in September 2021 as vice president of leasing, and in the past year, her team has increased the occupancy of the company’s centers from 93% to 98%. Also in that time, it has completed 375,000 square feet of new leases and about 400,000 square feet of renewals.

As for being named an ICSC 4 Under 40, she said: “I always used it as a benchmark, my goal of: One day if I could achieve that, it would be incredible. I am very appreciative of the people that I have met along my career and who have taken an interest in me and really helped me and pushed me for this. And I can’t say I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for ICSC.”

Looking ahead, she said: “I have been privileged to step into this third-generation company with such a deep history of success and really try to think about how we are going to position Sembler for the next 50 years.”

Eve Sembler also is focused on mentorship and creating more opportunities for women in the industry, as well as implementing more innovation and technology. “I am always very focused on learning,” she said. “With every challenge, first of all, figure out how to solve it, and second, really think: What did I learn from that, how can I get stronger, how will I face that the next time around and do even better? That is a huge component of how I think of myself and how I face challenges.”