Gary Burrows joins FitForCommece with over 30 years of experience in developing, operating, and facilitating large-scale mixed-use real estate and retail investments. Gary will lead the FitForCommerce Malls & Meeting Place consulting practice globally. An expert in Place-making Methodology, Gary has worked with over 90 shopping centres across 36 countries in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
“We’re thrilled to have an industry-recognized executive on the team to help grow the new era of malls and meeting places,” said Bernardine Wu, the founder and CEO of FitForCommerce. “The digital and omnichannel imperative that this sector faces will determine the winners and losers. We believe our assistance is critical to these clients.”
Gary began his career in retail and moved over to mall management, followed by regional operations and portfolio management, before setting up his own consultancy and advisory in shopping, leisure, and mixed-use schemes. In this position, he advised developers and investors and operating businesses at global leaders such as Westfield, Al- Futtaim, Trigranit, IKEA, and Centros Millar. Executive roles have included Dana Holdings, IKEA/Ingka Centres, and Al Farwaniya Property Developments. In all, he has managed or developed over £10 billion in assets and 11 million sqft GLA with the largest development being a £1 billion, 2 million sqft GLA mall development in the Middle East.
Gary is a frequent speaker and award judge at top industry programs such as Central & Eastern European Retail Property Awards, Eastern European Real Estate Awards, and North Eastern European Retail Property Awards. He co-founded the Belarusian Council of Shopping Centres Supervisory Board and the and Croatian Council of Shopping Centres and has served on International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), and Middle East Council of Shopping Centers & Retailers (MECSC).
“I look forward to leveraging my past global experiences in concept-to-launch development, asset optimization, operational management, and turnaround initiatives at FitForCommerce,” said Gary Burrows. “Leading our clients into a truly merged digital and physical world as part of a future-proofing strategy will be my priority.”
