The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is adapting to the crisis and offering unemployed retail professionals a nine-month period of free membership provided they have been a member for two of the past three years. 'We are also offering them the opportunity to place free job ads on the ICSC website,' ICSC President and CEO Michael Kercheval told delegates at the ICSC annual conference in Barcelona last week.

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is adapting to the crisis and offering unemployed retail professionals a nine-month period of free membership provided they have been a member for two of the past three years. 'We are also offering them the opportunity to place free job ads on the ICSC website,' ICSC President and CEO Michael Kercheval told delegates at the ICSC annual conference in Barcelona last week.

ICSC is also providing online training programmes and exams in a bid to lower costs for cash-strapped members, Kercheval added. 'We also provide grants to members to cover the expenses of attendance at ICSC events.'

Outgoing ICSC European Advisory Board Chairman Jaap Gillis said ICSC Europe had boosted its membership by 50% to 2,500 during his two-year term. 'We have also achieved our goal to recruit more women to the organisation and new countries.' Gillis, who is COO of Amsterdam-based retail developer and investor Redevco, has been appointed ICSC Trustee and will remain the chairman of the ICSC Sustainability working group he helped to found.