Michael P. Kercheval
President and Chief Executive Officer
International Council of Shopping Centers
New York, U.S.A.

Michael P. Kercheval is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). He joined ICSC in January 2000 and was appointed to the position of President and CEO in May 2001, becoming only the third CEO in the association’s fifty year history. In this role he is responsible for the day-to-day management of ICSC’s global operations and carrying out the association’s strategic objectives. Prior to joining ICSC, Mr. Kercheval was a senior executive at Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, an Australian based global real estate company.

Following the completion of graduate work in economics at Columbia University, Mr. Kercheval joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1982 as an economist in its investment research area. Most recently, Kercheval was Principal and CEO of Lend Lease Latin American Realty Advisors, Ltd, operating in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile.

Earlier in his career Kercheval worked on a series of public health and development projects in Central America, taught Urban Economics at Columbia University, and served as staff economist on the Colorado Governor’s Blue Ribbon panel on Economic Growth Management. A graduate of the University of Colorado with degrees in economics, political science, and international affairs, Kercheval earned his graduate degree in economics from Columbia University, New York. He has authored research papers on international economics, real estate investment, and economic growth management. A member of the National Association of Business Economists, ARES, and ULI, Kercheval serves on the boards of the Travel Business Roundtable and the New York Society of Association Executives. He, his wife Dana, and their two children reside near Princeton, New Jersey.

Founded in 1957, ICSC is the global trade association of the retail real estate industry with over 74,000 members in almost 100 countries.

René Tremblay
ICSC Worldwide Chairman
International Council of Shopping Centers
President and CEO, Ivanhoe Cambridge

René Tremblay was elected to serve as ICSC’s 48th Chairman in May 2007. He is ICSC’s sixth Chairman elected from Canada. Prior to being elected its Chairman, Mr. Tremblay served on ICSC’s Executive Committee and for six years as the association’s Canadian Divisional Vice President and for six years as a Trustee.

Mr. Tremblay was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Cambridge on February 1, 2001, when the merger of Ivanhoe Inc. and Cambridge Shopping Centres Ltd. was announced. Mr. Tremblay had been Ivanhoe’s President and Chief Operating Officer since March 1995.

He was born in Saint-Félicien (Quebec), in the Lac Saint-Jean region, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Université Laval in Québec City.

Mr. Tremblay has a long history in real estate, especially in the shopping centre sector. He held various positions with Simpson-Sears, the Campeau Corporation and Westcliff Group before joining SITQ Immobilier where, from 1985 to 1993, he was successively Manager, Leasing and Development; Vice-President, Shopping Centres and Development; and Senior Vice-President, Operations. Immediately prior to joining Ivanhoe, Mr. Tremblay was Senior Vice-President, Investments, at Cadim International. Mr. Tremblay is a member of the Board of Ivanhoe Cambridge. He is also a Director of Simon Ivanhoe, an operating European affiliate of Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Stan Eichelbaum
Founder and President
Marketing Developments, Inc. and
Planning Developments, Inc.
Florida, USA

Stan Eichelbaum is founder and President of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and East Lansing , Michigan based Marketing Developments, Inc. and Planning Developments, Inc., research, economic forecasting, marketing and development planning firms that have served as strategist for over 200 projects in 46 countries worldwide. Eichelbaum's planning has been acknowledged as leading edge in award competitions and by major firms and municipalities in 46 countries worldwide.

Eichelbaum also is a Professor of Practice and Director of International Initiatives in the Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing Program. Michigan State is the academic world leader in global initiatives with affiliation to over 160 universities, institutions and governments.

He previously held executive positions at two of the world's leading development firms and the world's largest department store chain.

From new-mixed use and mega project progressions and conceiving of several of the initial lifestyle developments to concept strategizing for projects in emerging markets, Marketing Developments and Planning Developments continuously monitor industry formats and individual retailer performance globally as well as consumer reactions and trending to navigate right strategies. The firm has also created numerous successful turnaround strategies for troubled properties.

Eichelbaum has won numerous industry creative, planning and marketing awards, chaired international conventions for the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Institute for International Research and has been a featured speaker at development and economics conferences in over 25 countries worldwide. He has also served as a judge in numerous international architectural design, development and marketing competitions throughout the past three decades.

He is a past two term trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers and serves on several community, academic and professional boards.

Eric Kuhne
President
Eric Kuhne Associates
London, UK

Eric Kuhne studied architecture at Rice University and Princeton in the United States and is principal of CivicArts based in London, Europe. With over 40 colleagues, Eric’s work continues to expand into new markets and new cultures to establish alternative design solutions that restore the story-telling quality of architecture and cities all over the world.

CivicArts is a research and design practise dedicated to restoring the pageantry of civic life. It is currently building mixed-use centres, parks and regeneration projects on four continents. Architecture, landscape, urban design, interiors, research and industrial design are all integrated into one aesthetic that celebrates the ethos of each culture where it builds.

CivicArts is currently working on the tallest tower in the world in a new city, Madinat Al Hareer, in Kuwait; Dubai’s International Financial Centre incorporating a mixed use development, civic gardens and cultural and entertainment amenities; and one of Europe’s largest waterfront regeneration projects, the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.

Passionate about the art of cities, Eric believes the robust vitality of civic life is a vivid challenge to cities all over the world, and that the city has been and always will be the Marketplace of Ideas.

As an international speaker, he has talked about the evolution of retail, revolution in the workplace, festive civic life, and lately the development of new towns built on his research principles that are shattering the assumptions of over 100-years of planning doctrine.

Karim Rashid
Contemporary thinker and industrial designer

Karim Rashid, a leading figure in the fields of product and interior design, fashion, furniture, lighting and art, was born in Cairo, half Egyptian, half English, and raised in Canada, Karim now practices in New York. He is best known for bringing his democratic design sensibility to the masses. Designing for an impressive array of clients from Umbra to Prada, Miyake to Method, Karim is radically changing the aesthetics of product design and the very nature of consumer culture. To date he has had some 2000 objects put into production.

As a product designer, Rashid creates the stuff of daily domestic life: sofas, chairs, candlesticks, table lamps, CD players, perfume bottles, cigarette lighters and, recently, rooms to put all that stuff in. His designs reflect his philosophy of living completely in the present.

Karim immersed himself in the world of architecture and interiors with his design of the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel in Athens. The Semiramis was recently awarded a European Hotel Design Award for Best Interior Design Public Areas. Morimoto was cited by Esquire Magazine as the best new restaurant design. Karim also designed an award winning retail interior for Nambe, a Sante Fe based manufacturer of table top items and two restaurants for the Singapore based noodle shop NOOCH – one in Singapore and one in NYC, Last year saw the opening of Four Food Studio in Long Island.

Karim was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Corcoran College of Art & Design in D.C. Other awards include the 2004 A.D. Dunton Alumni Award of Distinction from his alma mater, 2002 ID Magazine Annual Design Review Best of Category, and 2003 best Retail Store in the USA. His work is in the permanent collections of 14 Museums worldwide including MoMA and SFMoMA and he exhibits art in various galleries. Karim was an associate Professor of Industrial Design for 10 years and is now a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally.

His client list includes household names - Sony, Alessi, Armani, Audi, Tommy Hilfiger and Estee Lauder—and some surprises: ConEdison, Union Carbide, the Canadian postal Corp, Yahoo! and Mobilkom Austria.

John Davis
CEO
Colliers International
Dubai, UAE

John has over 20 years of property related experience and joined Colliers International in 1994 from one of South Africa’s leading financial institutions as General Manager - Finance for the company’s Property Management Division. In 1996 he was appointed as a director to the company’s main board with responsibility for the company’s Property Management activities throughout Southern Africa.

John was instrumental in Colliers International entering into the Facilities Management arena across Southern Africa and in 1998 a new division of the company was formed with him assuming responsibility for both divisions as the Property & Facilities Management Director, prior to being appointed as Managing Director in 2000.

In 2001 he transferred with Colliers International to the UAE to drive the growth of Colliers International’s business across the Middle East region. Based in Dubai, John currently holds the position of CEO for the company which now operates 6 regional offices offering a full range of professional real estate related services across the MENA region, John was recently appointed to the Colliers International EMEA board and he is also a board member of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centers.

Dr. Tommy Weir
Head of Learning and Development
Nakheel
Dubai, UAE

Dr. Tommy Weir is the Head of Learning and Development at Nakheel, one of the world’s largest privately held real estate developers and a rapidly expanding retail operator and fund manager. They are experiencing explosive growth (doubling their employment for three consecutive years) with massive delivery pressure in an emerging market.

He has driven the creation of an innovative learning architecture (leadership development and career development) that is unique to this fast growth and multi-cultural environment (there are over 70 nationalities working together in Nakheel’s corporate office).

Dr. Tommy has a rich history of leadership development experience…He holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership. Moreover his work is in a rather unique area “Leadership for Growth in Emerging Markets”. This stems from his specialty “Arab Leadership Development”. He is often asked, how did you come about your specialty? His reply is simply, “Having livedand/or worked throughout the Middle East for the past decade this unique specialty chose me (for which I am thankful) and from there it took root.”

Throughout his career, he has held top management positions; taught Organizational Leadership/Management at the graduate and university level; and he has an extensive background in leadership development consulting, including Fortune 100 companies. Additionally, Dr. Tommy is a featured author and lecturer on the subject of leadership and management development, specifically in multi- cultural,fast-growth and emerging markets.

Dr. Kjell Nordtsrom
Associate Professor at the
Institute of International Business (IIB)
Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden

Europe’s number 1 Management Thinker

Amid the madness and hyperbole surrounding the new economy, Dr. Kjell A. Nordström is a guru of the new world of business. The 2007 Thinkers 50, the world's first ranking of management thinkers, ranked Nordström and his partner Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle at number 13 in the world and number one in Europe. His dynamic style makes him a highly appreciated speaker throughout the world. He has served as an advisor/consultant to several large multinationals.

Kjell holds an Economic Licentiate degree and a doctoral degree from the Stockholm School of Economics. He is presently Associate Professor at the Institute of International Business (IIB) at the Stockholm School of Economics. His research and consulting focus is on the areas of corporate strategy, multinational corporations and globalization. Kjell has published a book and numerous articles on the internationalization process of firms.

He is presently an Assistant Professor at the Institute of International Business (IIB), Stockholm School of Economics, focusing on research, consulting and management training in Sweden and abroad in the areas of corporate strategy, multinational corporations and globalisation. Kjell is one of the founders of the Stockholm School of Economics’ most prestigious program, The Advanced Management Program (AMP).

Kjell has served as an advisor and consultant to several large multinational corporations. During the last few years he has also been heavily involved in management training at various institutions, such as the Swedish Institute of Management (ILF), the Beijing Institute on Economic Management, Chalmers Institute of Technology and The Ericsson Management Institute. He is also on the board of directors of several companies.

Funky Business - Talent makes capital dance and the new book Karaoke Capitalism: Management for Mankind are management books that Kjell has co-authored with Jonas Ridderstråle.