Success
Making
A new wave of REIT CEOs steps to the industry forefront
By Michael Fickes
In recent years, a growing number of REIT boards of directors have begun to focus on succession planning at the level of chief executive officer. It is a chal- lenging step to take, and the first time many REITs ever had to face succession questions. A legion of entrepreneurs created a wave of REITs in the 1990s. The en- trepreneurs became strategists and grew. Then, they became business experts,
shepherding their REITs through the public markets and economic difficulties that
arose at the turn of the century.
And now they are ready to retire.
Hard as it may be to replace them, it represents a normal change in the life of all
companies. Many corporate predecessors have learned the hard way that, for a company to survive in the long run, leadership must be institutionalized in ways that make
