Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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Frieze earned his position, though, in several ways. He has held various jobs at Gordon Brothers, dating back to his pre-business-school days. He graduated from Lehigh University in 1990 and then earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He brings knowledge and experience he gleaned in positions outside Gordon Brothers: He was, by turns, a turnaround consultant with Recovery Group (today part of Deloitte Corporate Restructur- ing Group), a management consultant at Bain & Co. and CEO of RetailExchange.com. Since returning to Gordon Brothers in 2003, his role has included leading the firm's brand, appraisal and business development efforts before being named t C E R t A i n L y W A S n O S U R P R i S E when Kenneth S. Frieze replaced his father, Michael, as CEO of Gordon Brothers Group, the Boston-based advisory, lending and investment firm Kenneth's great-grandfa- ther, Jacob, co-founded in 1903. But then, neither was this scion's path at the firm ever etched in stone. "Gordon Brothers itself is a business with family in it, but it is not run as a family business," said Frieze. "So it was never a foregone conclusion that i would be coming into the business to run it one day." president two years ago — virtually to the day — in February 2013. "He has had many different responsibilities over a long period of time, so he is not coming from outside and hav- ing to learn the business," said Michael Frieze. Although Gordon Brothers has ex- panded into commercial and industrial as- set types, retail continues to be a significant part of the core business. the company has specialized teams within each retail segment, such as store formats, e-commerce, clearance programs, customer transition, brand protec- tion, rent reductions and lease mitigations. the rise to CEO from president may seem of itself to be no big leap, but the new I no sure thing Just because gordon bros. group has always been run by family didn't automatically mean Kenneth frieze would get the top Job By Beth Mattson-Teig n e w s m a k e r s 54 s C T / m a r c h 2 0 1 5