According to The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), David Henry, president and chief executive officer, vice chairman of Kimco Realty Corp., one of North America's largest owners of neighborhood and community shopping centers, has been elected by ICSC's Board of Trustees to serve as the association's chairman for the 2011-2012 term. Henry assumed his role as chairman on May 23 during RECon, ICSC's annual meeting in Las Vegas. Henry is the association's 52nd chairman, succeeding William S. Taubman, COO of Taubman Centers, Inc. "David Henry is an exceptional choice, given his strong institutional and financial background coupled with his prominent place in the shopping center industry" Henry, an ICSC trustee, brings three decades of capital markets industry experience to the post. He has been active in many areas of ICSC since 2001, when he joined both Kimco and ICSC. Henry has contributed to the association's educational programs, including the University of Shopping Centers and the debt-workout seminars, and also serves on the board of the ICSC Foundation. "ICSC is a great organization, and I am honored to be named chairman," said Henry. "ICSC is unusual in that it represents not just shopping center landlords, but also tenants, financers and municipalities, and there's no other property type that I know of where the trade association is an umbrella organization for all of those key constituents. I think it's important that we continue to be a very meaningful organization for everybody that touches the retail industry." "David Henry is an exceptional choice, given his strong institutional and financial background coupled with his prominent place in the shopping center industry," said Michael Kercheval, ICSC's president and CEO. "He will be a great asset to ICSC and the shopping center industry during this pivotal point of recovery in the economic cycle." At Kimco, a real estate investment trust (REIT), Henry helps lead a company that owns interests in close to 950 shopping centers comprising 138 million square feet of leasable space across 44 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and South America. Kimco has specialized in shopping center acquisitions, development and management for over 50 years and is the largest retail real estate landlord in Mexico. Before joining New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Kimco nearly 10 years ago, Mr. Henry rose to chief investment officer at GE Capital Real Estate, where he served for 23 years. Before that, he was vice president of Republic Mortgage Investors, a Coral Gables, Fla., REIT. Mr. Henry, 61, was born in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Bucknell University in 1971 and an MBA from the University of Miami in 1973. He is the father of eight children and lives in Greenwich, Conn., with his wife, Sue Ellen. Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 55,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world.