Business | U.S. Economy

The Internet was supposed to be the death of brick-and-mortar stores, but Peter Lowy says his malls are making free wi-fi and other technologies work for them instead of against them.

Named one of the 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World by the Harvard Business Review, Lowy leads the biggest operator of shopping centers on the globe. With 124 centers in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand, Lowy has his ear to the ground when it comes to retail and real estate trends.

At this breakfast for Milken Institute Associates, Lowy gave his take on what's ahead for retail, how the commercial real estate market is shaping up, the future of the U.S. economy and a host of other issues.

Lowy has spent 28 years in the retail and REIT industry, joining Westfield Group in 1983 and becoming a managing director in 1997. Last year he and his brother Steven took the reins at Westfield as patriarch Frank Lowy stepped down and assumed the role of nonexecutive chairman.

Westfield is expanding its presence with new ventures in Brazil and Italy - its first new markets since 2000. But Lowy has expressed caution about further growth: "History is littered with companies rushing into new markets overseas without doing their homework. We're not running to open new markets until we can see the real investment returns."

Before the Westfield Group, Lowy worked in investment banking in London and New York. He sits on the boards of the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia, the RAND Corp. and the Homeland Security Advisory Council as well as the Executive Committee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Now a resident of Los Angeles and a U.S. citizen, Lowy holds a bachelor's degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

This event was open only to Milken Institute Associates. To join the Associates or learn more about the program, please contact Mindy Silverstein, managing director of the Associates, at (310) 570-4634 or msilverstein@milkeninstitute.org.

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