Retail Industry Outlook

Glenn Rufrano assumed the role of chief executive officer of VEREIT, Inc. on April 1, 2015. Since joining the organization, Rufrano reconstituted the Board of Directors, formalized the VEREIT management team and introduced a business plan to guide the company’s strategy.

Under his leadership, the company changed its name to VEREIT, moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange and implemented a company-wide business approach based on discipline, transparency and consistency.

Furthermore, Rufrano has made significant progress on several initiatives including reducing debt, enhancing the portfolio and simplifying VEREIT’s business model with the sale of Cole Capital.

VEREIT merged with Realty Income in November 2021. Before joining VEREIT, Rufrano served as the chairman and chief executive officer of O’Connor Capital Partners, a privately-owned independent real estate investment, development and management firm specializing in retail and multifamily residential properties. He was among the founders of O’Connor in 1983.

Prior to rejoining O’Connor in 2013, Rufrano served as global president and chief executive officer of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., a private, global commercial property and real estate services company and was a member of its board of directors. From January 2008 to February 2010, he was chief executive officer of Centro Properties Group, an Australian-based shopping center company, which owned 22 million square feet of retail property in Australia and 100 million square feet in the U.S.

From April 2007 through January 2008, Rufrano served as chief executive officer of Centro Properties Group U.S. From 2000 until its acquisition by Centro Properties Group in April 2007, Rufrano was chief executive officer of New Plan Excel Realty Trust, Inc. (“New Plan”), a commercial retail real estate investment trust formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as a member of the its board of directors.

Under his leadership, New Plan was transformed into one of the nation’s largest public real estate companies, focusing on the ownership and management of more than 460 community and neighborhood shopping centers encompassing approximately 68 million square feet of retail space.

Rufrano has served as a public director of Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company and a publicly traded health care real estate investment trust; Columbia Property Trust, Inc., a publicly traded office real estate investment trust; Trizec Properties, Inc., a national office real estate investment trust; Criimi Mae Inc., a mortgage real estate investment trust; and General Growth Properties, an institutional mall real estate investment trust.

He currently serves on the advisory boards at New York University’s Real Estate Institute and at The Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute Advisory Board at Baruch College. Rufrano serves on the Dean’s Council for the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and was the 2021 Leadership Award Winner for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

He is a trustee and the current chairman of ICSC. He serves on the board of New Alternatives for Children, a not-for-profit health and social services agency whose exclusive mission is to serve children with medical disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and their families.

Rufrano earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rutgers University and Master of Science degree in management and real estate from Florida International University.