BEACHWOOD, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR) today announced that Linda Abraham and Dawn Sweeney have been appointed to its Board of Directors effective as of October 8. Following these appointments, DDR’s Board of Directors has eight members, four of whom were appointed in the last two years.
“I am thrilled to announce this important step in the ongoing board refreshment process,” said David Lukes, President and Chief Executive Officer. “These two new members will play a key role in positioning DDR for long-term value creation. Ms. Abraham brings a formidable track record as an entrepreneur and expert in consumer analytics, a field that is increasingly critical to our efforts to understand shopping patterns and merchandise mix. Ms. Sweeney is a key leader in the food and entertainment services industry, the fastest growing tenant category.”
Linda Abraham has served since 2014 as Managing Director of Crimson Capital, which invests in and advises early stage technology companies spanning data/analytics, cybersecurity, machine learning, e-commerce, educational technology and virtual reality. From 1999 to 2013, Ms. Abraham co-founded and served as Executive Vice President of comScore, a leader in digital measurement and analytics which went public in 2007. Prior to co-founding comScore, Ms. Abraham co-founded Paragren Technologies, which provided software for customer relationship management systems and was bought by Siebel Systems in 2006. Ms. Abraham serves as the Vice Chair of Upskill, a virtual reality company for large scale manufacturing enterprises, and on the boards of Tiger 21, the Data Science Institute at the University of Virginia, and the International Women's Forum of Northern California. Ms. Abraham holds a degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from Penn State University.
Dawn Sweeney has served since 2007 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the 650,000 member National Restaurant Association, the leading business association for the nation’s $800 billion restaurant and foodservice industry. Prior to joining the National Restaurant Association, Ms. Sweeney was President of AARP Services, where she was responsible for revenue growth and new product development for the 50+ market, and served as Group Executive at AARP, where she focused on growing and diversifying AARP’s membership. Ms. Sweeney currently serves as Co-Chair of Save the Children, a global humanitarian organization, and as Chair of the Bryce Harlow Foundation, an organization devoted to ethics and integrity in lobbying. Ms. Sweeney earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Government from Colby College and an MBA in Marketing from The George Washington University.
About DDR
DDR is an owner and manager of open-air shopping centers that provide a highly-compelling shopping experience and merchandise mix for retail partners and consumers. The Company is a self-administered and self-managed REIT operating as a fully integrated real estate company, and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DDR. Additional information about the Company is available at http://www.ddr.com/. To be included in the Company’s e-mail distributions for press releases and other investor news, please click here.
