Peter Allen, Chief Executive Officer of Scentre Group, has been re-elected for a second term as the Chairman of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA).
Susan MacDonald, Head of Retail, Mirvac, has been re-elected as Joint Deputy Chair, and Greg Chubb, Retail CEO, Charter Hall, has been elected as the new Joint Deputy Chair.
Allen was initially elected as Chairman in August 2015 following the resignation of Steven Sewell, the former CEO of Federation Centres.
Allen has been a Director of the SCCA since July 2014, following the formation of Scentre Group on 30 June 2014, and his appointment as CEO. Allen previously had a long career with the Westfield Group, including as Chief Financial Officer.
“I look forward to working closely with Susan and Greg, and our fellow Directors, members and staff, as we continue to implement our strategy and build our industry capability”, said Allen.
“The SCCA has three long-standing foundations that we continue to build upon to ensure success for our members and industry; our considered approach and honest appraisal of issues; our stable governance and close engagement from our Board and members; and our laser focus on material issues that affect members and engagement with key stakeholders”, said Mr Allen.
“Our operating environment is under constant change, and ensuring we’re in-tune with emerging policy and regulatory drivers and trends will continue to be critical” said Allen.
“I’m proud of our achievements in recent years across our eight policy areas, including the ACCC’s re-authorisation of the Casual Mall Licensing Code and the negotiation of a Sales Reporting Code of Conduct with key retailer groups”.
“We’ve also launched the Frank Lowy Fellowship, refreshed our industry’s Marketing Awards, and have an increased focus on safety and security issues”, said Allen.
Allen said an emerging challenge is the ad-hoc and incremental nature of regulation.
“Our operating model means we have a unique lens on issues across the country, and we’re seeing an increase in disconnected policy, whether its three jurisdictions looking at gift card regulation, different timeframes to return bank guarantees, or opt-in and out approaches to national energy regulation”.
“A critical issue is how otherwise disparate legislation connects with other policies and legislation. There’s specialisation and detail in what we do, and our challenge is to ensure we’re engaging deeply with our key stakeholders, and ensure issues are being considered in the right forum”, said Allen.
Allen paid tribute to John Schroder, former Group Executive and CEO Commercial Property, Stockland, the SCCA’s former Joint Deputy Chair.
John Schroder
“John’s leadership and passion over a long period helped deliver positive outcomes for our members. We thank John for his commitment, and wish him the best in the future”, said Allen.
Allen, MacDonald and Chubb assume office for a period of three years.
The SCCA is the national advocacy and industry group for Australia’s major shopping centre owners and managers. The members are Abacus Property Group, AMP Capital, AXA Investment Managers, Blackstone Group, Brookfield, Challenger, Charter Hall, DEXUS Property Group, The GPT Group, ISPT, Jen Retail Properties, JLL, Lancini Group, Lendlease Retail, McConaghy Group, McConaghy Properties, Mirvac, Perron Group, Precision Group, QIC, Savills, SCA Property Group, Scentre Group, Stockland and Vicinity Centres.
Former SCCA Chairs are as follows:
• Steven Sewell, CEO and Managing Director, Federation Centres.
• Bob Jordan, Managing Director, Australia, New Zealand and United States, Westfield Group.
• Andrew Scott, CEO, Centro Properties Group.
• Laurie Brindle, Head of Global Real Estate, QIC.
• Jack Ritch, Managing Director, AMP Capital Investors.
