The period following the inauguration of a new president is always a critical time in Washington, heralding what is traditionally the most active time in the legislative cycle. “I think that everyone can acknowledge that we will need to work hard to bring Marketplace Fairness to a vote between now and the general election. There is much more competition for attention during the first two years of any new administration, which is when a great deal of legislation happens, before the midterm elections,” observed Elizabeth I. Holland, CEO of Chicago-based Abbell Associates LLC.
This may not be such a bad time, therefore, for ICSC to have a chairman who knows her way around the halls of government. Holland, 51, a former senior staff attorney on the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, was elected ICSC’s 2016–2017 chairman at RECon at the Annual Meeting of Members yesterday. Holland’s familiarity with Washington, finance and law, and her experience running a shopping center development company, make her a potent candidate, observers say. Abbell Associates is a 75-year-old private real estate acquisition, development and management company with a portfolio of about 3.5 million square feet of shopping center and office space. Some 75 percent of the portfolio constitutes retail space.
Holland also has an accomplished track record with ICSC. As chairman of ICSC’s Bylaws Committee and for the past year ICSC’s vice chairman, she has led the initiative to overhaul the organization’s bylaws and governance procedures. Besides being a trustee, she has served on ICSC’s Political Action Committee and chaired the Economic Subcommittee. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute and its CRC Blue Council.
“Liz is a very strong choice to serve as our next chairman,” said Brad M. Hutensky, an ICSC past chairman and the chairman of the organization’s Nominating and Governance Committee. “She understands the issues facing our industry and the needs of ICSC members, having served as a volunteer for close to two decades. As chairman, Liz will combine this experience with her sharp mind, strong communication skills and dry wit that have made her so effective as ICSC’s first vice chairman.” Hutensky is principal and president of Hutensky Capital Partners, a Hartford, Conn.–based retail property investment, development and management firm.
Holland, who lives in her native Chicago with her three daughters, earned a Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature from Hamilton College, in upstate New York, and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. Her father, grandfather and three great-uncles all were lawyers, making for “quite the family debate scene at dinnertime,” according to Holland.
Before Holland’s employment by the Bankruptcy Review Commission, which was charged in the late 1990s with making recommendations to Congress for bankruptcy code reform, she was a restructuring and business reorganization attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, in New York City.
Such experience will not hurt in the likely event that tax reform comes to the national forefront during the first two years of the next American president’s term. “It is anticipated that everyone is going to have to pay more in any fundamental tax reform scheme, because the government needs more money,” Holland said. It is critical, she argues, that the retail development industry holds its ground under any new tax proposals. “It’s a very important issue. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was a cigarette and a blindfold for the commercial real estate industry.”
The top priority for ICSC this year continues to be passage of a bill to require e-tailers to collect and remit state sales taxes, as has long been required of brick-and-mortar retailers. Several bills have been introduced to that effect in recent years under various names, the latest being the Remote Transactions Parity Act (H.R. 2775). “ICSC really needs to be poised to lead as strong a coalition as it can assemble with regard to main-street fairness to get that through this year,” said Holland, citing the previous incarnation of the bill — the Marketplace Fairness Act — that passed the Senate in 2014 but stalled in the House.
Other aspects of the electronic revolution in retail offer the industry great opportunities to grow and thrive, says Holland. “Technology is giving consumers many more tools at their fingertips,” she said, because this has changed the way retailers and shopping centers are designed and operated. By the same token, technological advances are providing efficiencies in everything from energy consumption to property management.
“What’s most exciting about retail real estate is its virtual unlimited ability to adapt,” Holland said. Consequently, ICSC’s historic role as an information exchange is more important than ever, she notes. “ICSC is really at the forefront of these changes and can serve as a central source for disseminating information to its members."
Holland says she looks forward to a busy and productive year, though not one that is so busy as to interfere too much with her passions for reading and sports. She is an avid runner, among other things. “I also row, play tennis, squash, golf and cycle with my family,” she said. “You name it, we compete at everything in my family.”
Past Chairman Stephen D. Lebovitz — president and CEO of CBL & Associates — is himself a competitive cyclist, and might therefore have a tip or two on striking a balance between play and work while serving as chairman.
For his part, ICSC’s president and CEO has full confidence in Holland’s ability to throw herself fully into her new role. “Liz’s expertise and experience will prove crucial to ICSC as it focuses on defending and promoting the retail development industry’s vital interests on every front, whether it be in Washington or in the sphere of technology and best practices,” said Tom McGee, ICSC’s president and CEO. “Liz will be a great chairman, and I look forward to working closely with her.”
Holland is ICSC’s 57th chairman and the fourth woman to hold the post in the association’s 59-year history.
Kenneth F. Bernstein, president and CEO of Acadia Realty Trust, based in White Plains, N.Y., was picked to succeed Holland as vice chairman for 2016–2017.
Also, the following new trustees were elected: Jeffrey A. Bayer, president and CEO, Bayer Properties, LLC; Scott Carr, executive vice president and chief investment officer, IRC Retail Centers; Karen Janes, senior vice president, global real estate, Ralph Lauren Corp.; Josip Kardun, CEO, Atrium Group Services B.V.; David J. Oakes, president and CEO, DDR Corp.; Brian H. Pall, president, real estate, Hudson’s Bay Co.; Robert D. Perlmutter, senior executive vice president and COO, Macerich.
