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Ward Kampf

Ward Kampf

President

Northwood Retail

Mark F. Bonner
Moderator

Mark F. Bonner

Editor-in-Chief / Chief Content Officer

Bisnow

Ward Kampf

President

Northwood Retail

Ward Kampf is the forward-thinking President of Northwood Retail. Always seeking to be on the

vanguard, Ward has an envelope-pushing intuition and trendsetting mindset that has propelled

Northwood Retail’s portfolio to contain more than 85 first-to-market tenants and over 30 digitally native

brands throughout its properties, which span from California to Texas to Tennessee, and the Carolinas.

Ward has spotted and opened early concept locations for brands such as RH, Dry Bar, Kendra Scott,

Warby Parker, AWAY, lululemon, Vuori, Faherty, Mastro’s, and Sam Fox Restaurant Concepts. Ward is a

creative force that’s been instrumental in shaping dynamic shopping centers and mixed-use assets, such

as Domain NORTHSIDE in Austin, Texas; Freshfields Village in Kiawah, South Carolina; Scottdale Quarter

in Scottsdale, Arizona; The RIM in San Antonio, Texas, and The Forum in Carlsbad, California, among

others.

With more than 30 years of experience, Ward has been at the helm in senior leadership roles at

Glimcher Realty Trust, Thomas Enterprises Inc., General Growth Properties, Columbia 27, and Gap Inc.

before joining Northwood Retail in 2014.

From 1999-2001, Ward was at the forefront of the open-air movement, leading a special development

project for Gap, Inc. to grow the brand and move its stores away from mall environments and into

streetscape retail and lifestyle centers. While at Gap, Inc., Ward was exposed to the rise of e-commerce

through planning for all of Gap’s brands. He was able to process the future of retail early on – the shift

to streets and outdoor spaces while starting to hone his eye for direct-to-consumer concepts.

Then, as the President of Thomas Enterprises, from 2005-2009, Ward developed and leased iconic open-

air projects like The RIM in San Antonio, Texas; The Forum Carlsbad in Carlsbad, California; Peach Tree

Parkway in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hamburg Pavilion in Lexington, Kentucky.

Championing placemaking and continually evolving shopping center environments with forward-

thinking merchandise mixes, Ward helped conceive and create Scottsdale Quarter in Scottsdale, Arizona,

while acquiring and repositioning assets like University Park Village in Fort Worth, Texas; The Malibu

Lumber Yard in Malibu, California, and Arbor Hills in Ann Arbor, Michigan for Glimcher Realty Trust in his

role as Senior Vice President of Leasing and Strategic Investments from 2009-2013.

While at Northwood Retail, Ward has devised, developed, and acquired assets like Domain NORTHSIDE

in Austin, Texas; Hillside Village, Prestonwood Place, and The Shops at Park Lane in Dallas, Texas;

Freshfields Village in Kiawah, South Carolina; The Waverly Place in Cary, North Carolina; Hillsdale

Shopping Center in San Mateo, California, and Fifth + Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee.

Additionally, since 1996, Ward has served as a partner in Charger, LLC, where he worked with Farallon

Capital Management to purchase The Goldman Portfolio – one of the most significant and

transformative real estate purchases in the history of Oklahoma City.

Ward lives with his family in Dallas, Texas, the home of his alma mater Southern Methodist University,

where he graduated with a BBA in Business.

WELCOME TO FIRST DRAFT LIVE

THIS WEEK... 

Black Friday just blew past the macro gloom, but retail’s underlying instability isn’t going anywhere.

Shoppers dropped $11.8B online (that’s up 9.1%) plus $6.4B on Thanksgiving, value chains were mobbed and AI shopping assistants spiked 300% year over year. Yet the backdrop is shaky: tariff whiplash, softening consumer sentiment, delayed imports, waves of closures, shrinking seasonal hiring and layoffs at major brands. That’s all happening just as retailers enter the time of year that typically accounts for 20% of their annual sales.

This week, Ward Kampf, President of Northwood Retail, joins us to break down what’s real, what’s noise and what CRE should brace for. We’ll be digging into why the consumer keeps outperforming, how retailers protect margins already squeezed by tariffs and whether the holiday season will be strong enough to buoy the market heading into 2026 — or if the sector will be staring down a softer leasing environment.

Is U.S. retail still as resilient as it looks, or are we nearing the moment when “relentless” instability finally hits the real estate side of the ledger?

_______ 

Every Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET, we go live with industry experts for a sharp, timely conversation on the week’s most impactful topic — inspired by our daily newsletter, The First Draft. Whether it’s CRE capital trends, policy changes, or sector-specific activity, we break down what it means for your business right now.

We’ve hosted some of the industry's top voices — and there's more to come. Bring your questions, join the conversation, or catch the replay within 24 hours if you can't attend live.

Interested in speaking? Contact Director of Global Production Elizabeth Baker at liz.baker@bisnow.com.

Agenda

Time Activity
5:30 PM
6:00 PM
First Draft Live: America’s Shopping Hard. So Why Is Retail Still Sweating?

Featuring Northwood Retail President Ward Kampf