Jackson Hsieh will become the president and CEO of The Macerich Company on March 1, following the retirement of Thomas O’Hern after 30 years of service to the company. Concurrent with O’Hern’s retirement, president Edward Coppola will also retire from Macerich.

O’Hern will serve as an advisor to the Santa Monica-based company through June 30, to ensure a smooth transition. Hsieh’s appointment as president and CEO follows an extensive search process by the board with the assistance of recruitment firm Ferguson Partners.

Board chairman Steven Hash said, “Jackson is a seasoned real estate executive and he is an outstanding choice to succeed Tom. Most recently, Jackson was the president & CEO of Spirit Realty Capital where he led the successful merger of Spirit with Realty Income Corporation through an all-stock transaction valued at an enterprise value of approximately $9.3 billion.

“The merger with Realty Income followed Spirit’s successful sale of $4.7 billion in non-core assets, including the spin-off of approximately $2.9 billion in assets into a separate publicly traded company and acquired over $6.2 billion in retail and industrial assets to create a high-quality diversified real estate portfolio. Prior to Spirit, Jackson spent over 25 years in global lodging and real estate investment banking, having successful careers at a number of prestigious investment banks.”

San Diego-based net lease REIT Realty Income Corporation has closed on the previously announced merger with Spirit Realty Capital, Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $9.3 billion. The common stock of the combined company, which has an enterprise value of approximately $63 billion, will trade under the symbol “O” on the New York Stock Exchange.

“With the acquisition of this highly complementary portfolio, we believe we are well placed to deliver on our growth objectives in 2024,” said Sumit Roy, Realty Income’s president and CEO. “As we continue on our path of thoughtful growth, we intend to utilize our leading platform and strong balance sheet to deliver on our mission of providing shareholders a dependable monthly dividend that grows over time.”

When the merger was announced last October, Realty Income said the combined portfolio is expected to result in reduced rent concentration for nine of its current top 10 industries and 18 of its current top 20 clients, while increasing the combined portfolio’s annualized contractual rent from $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion. Convenience stores are expected to remain the combined company’s largest industry.