US commercial real estate firm Simon Property Group has announced the hiring of a new IRO. Tom Ward has been appointed to serve as the NYSE-listed firm’s vice president of investor relations and will report to senior vice president of corporate affairs Liz Zale.
‘We’re excited to add Tom to the Simon team, and are confident the investment community will benefit from his unique perspective representing companies from real estate and hospitality to technology,’ says Zale in a company press release.
Ward is an MBA alumnus of Indiana’s University Bloomington and a seasoned IR professional. He joins Simon Property from US consumer advocacy group Angie’s List, where he had been serving as vice president of IR for the past year. Prior to this, he led IR and PR for three years at Brightpoint , a distributor of wireless devices and services, now part of electronics major Ingram Micro. His earlier career includes IR positions at Sabre Holdings, La Quinta and i2 Technologies.
Commenting on Ward’s appointment, CFO Steve Sterrett says in a release: ‘Tom comes to Simon Property Group with a breadth of experience working in investor relations for major corporations and we look forward to having him continue his track record of success.’
Simon Property, part of the S&P 100 index and the largest real estate investment trust (REIT) in the US, operates around 243 mn square feet of retail space in North America, Asia and Europe. The firm recently announced it was spinning off its strip center and smaller enclosed mall business into a separate publicly traded REIT. The newly formed Washington Prime Group will be led by Mark Ordan, former CEO of retirement home developer Sunrise Senior Living.
