For two decades now, Scott Schnuckel has been a wunderkind of sorts around Kohl’s. In his junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the studious Schnuckel snagged a prized internship at the retailer’s corporate headquarters in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, just a short jaunt from campus. It was a coup for a finance/accounting major who didn’t yet know he’d make his way into real estate, Schnuckel recalled.

That internship spilled into his senior year, and his relationship with the chain is now in its 19th year. He went on to join the Kohl’s brain trust as a full-time analyst, charged with the weighty chore of dissecting new-store spending. He assumed the role of vice president of property development and real estate in 2022, and he oversees all of Kohl’s real estate initiatives through their full life cycles, including 100 million square feet of retail and 1,200 stores. He felt fortunate to survive the 2008 recession, which he said proved to be “a short-term pain” that ultimately forced greater operational efficiencies.

ICSC named him to its 4 Under 40 at ICSC NEW YORK in December, the same month he turned 39. “It’s incredible to look at the list of the people who’ve earned the award,” he said. “You can’t help but feel you’re being placed in special company.”

Schnuckel, who later earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, became active with ICSC in 2014. “I found I really liked the opportunity to meet new people and establish connections with them,” he said. “ICSC also helped with broker relationships and my ability to access and talk to executive peers at conferences.”

In 2015, Schnuckel segued from his finance-focused roles to the development side as manager of real estate development, working with stores and landlords to pilot Kohl’s rightsizing. “I felt fortunate, even lucky, to be given an incredible opportunity to help with our downsizing initiatives,” he said. “It was a challenge. At the same time, in 2018, I was handling the majority of our real estate programs, as a leadership change was also happening.”

Clearly, there’s a strong element of skill behind Schnuckel’s “luck.” He was named senior manager of real estate in 2017 and director of property development two years later. He explained: “I kept saying yes when new opportunities arose.”

In 2022, Schnuckel got bumped up again to his present vice president post, a job that melds his many Kohl’s experiences with leadership of the firm’s distribution and office properties. “It’s relatively easy to adapt your process to distribution, but you need to build and utilize relationships to bring in the expertise you need,” he said. But repurposing or disposing of some of the retailer’s office properties, given the market’s softness, “is a test.”

While the company’s plans for a small-store concept — which, at 35,000 to 40,000 square feet, is roughly half of the large format — have generated national news over the past couple years, Schnuckel and team actually have been incubating the idea for eight years. Kohl’s has opened more than 20 smaller stores, and a lot more are possible, he said. The format better fits the populations of new and expanding markets and is a tool for rightsizing existing markets, he said. “Everyone is making their buildings smaller, and we’re no different. This helps us learn to operate more efficiently.” He was ecstatic to be on hand for the November 2023 opening of the downtown Milwaukee Kohl’s in a historic anchor space at The Avenue, practically in the retailer’s backyard.

In 2019, Schnuckel began guest-lecturing at Marquette University. A larger role, as adjunct real estate instructor, came in 2021 when faculty mentioned that a senior case-study class was overenrolled and wondered if Schnuckel would pick up the slack with his own class. While he had thought he’d teach someday, he said, “I never thought it would be this soon.” He and his wife, Kristina, considered the pros and cons and weighed the demands of teaching against family and work responsibilities. “Ultimately, we prioritized it,” he said. “It’s a way to give back, and I enjoy teaching students and drawing from my real-life experiences.”

The couple is active with West African Mercy Ministries, a nonprofit orphanage and hospice in Accra, Ghana, for gravely ill and other special-needs children, most of whom had been homeless. Kristina visited the orphanage in 2009 to help get it operational. Scott followed. “We became very passionate about it,” he said. The couple, who’ve served on the faith-based mission’s board since 2014, adopted their oldest child, Kojo, 14, from the orphanage. They have two other children, 10 and 6.

Golfing and camping are among Schnuckel’s off-hours interests, and an affinity for the Diablo IV video game allows him to connect and chat with multiple friends and colleagues as they compete, he said.

Schnuckel credits his Kohl’s successes to “an incredible team atmosphere and many great people who were willing to invest time in me.” Kohl’s execs who’ve inspired Schnuckel are too many to name, though chief property officer Mark Griepentrog “is one of the big reasons I’m in the situation I am today,” Schnuckel said. “He’s caring and compassionate. His enthusiasm makes you excited to go to work. There has been a lot of learning on the fly for me, but learning on the fly from great leaders has been invaluable experience.”