BRIAN Schwartz, chair of Australia’s largest shopping centres owner, Scentre Group, will retire from the board at the end of September, with Ilana Atlas to take on the role.
The succession plan follows Elliot Rusanow last year stepping into the role of chief executive following the departure of founding CEO Peter Allen.
Schwartz has been the group’s chair since 2016.
“Having completed the group’s CEO succession, and with the company moving forward strongly as demonstrated by our most recent full-year results with funds from operation and distribution both exceeding guidance, it is the right time for me to step down,” he said.
At its annual general meeting yesterday, Rusanow said customer visits to Scentre’s malls in the 13 weeks to 2nd April were up 16% on the prior corresponding period to $125 million, while sales were 17% higher in January and February than 2022 and 10% higher than pre-pandemic 2019.
“I am delighted Ilana will succeed me as chair. Her leadership will add greatly to the future success and growth of our company. I look forward to working closely with Ilana, board directors, and our CEO Elliott Rusanow over the coming months to complete a seamless transition.”
Rusanow said, “On behalf of the Scentre Group team, I thank Brian for his leadership and support of our business.
“Under Brian’s leadership we have grown and developed a customer strategy and culture that sets us apart. Our platform of Westfield destinations is unrivalled, and we remain focused on attracting more people and creating the most efficient platform for business partners to connect with customers.
“I look forward to working with Brian and Ilana on the transition and maintaining our focus on our growth ambition to become essential to people, their communities and the businesses that interact with them.”
Atlas said: “I would like to thank Brian on behalf of the directors and securityholders for his outstanding contribution to the Group since its inception 9 years ago and his leadership of the board for the past seven years.
In particular, I would like to acknowledge his leadership of the Board through the successful CEO and CFO succession.
“I am honoured to have been nominated by my Board colleagues following Brian’s decision to retire and am committed to the stewardship of Scentre Group’s purpose and ambition to deliver long-term value creation for our securityholders.”
