Retail property veteran John Peter “JP” Suarez has had an unusual career path that took him from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., and included serving as an assistant U.S. attorney, a director of gaming enforcement and an assistant administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Suarez, the new chairman of global retail real estate trade association ICSC, pictured with his granddaughter, can trace his current position to a big job leap he made in 2004. That’s when he joined discount giant Walmart’s team. At the ICSC’s annual New York conference last week in Manhattan, Suarez described how, while at the EPA, he had met and worked with executives at the retailer.
Walmart tried to recruit him then, but Suarez said he initially had qualms about relocating to the chain’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Also, as he recounted, the idea also didn’t go over too well with his wife. But with three children to put through college, Suarez decided that transferring to the private sector made sense. And his wife agreed to the move south.
Suarez joked that it was a bit of a culture shock to live at the time in a smaller area like Bentonville, CoStar News' Linda Moss reported. But he looks back on it fondly these days, and said the area has since been built up with the help of the Walton family, who founded Walmart, and the economic impact of the retailer, according to Suarez.
Suarez held a variety of positions during his nearly two-decade career at Walmart including president of Walmart Realty, managing the company’s real estate portfolio and development strategy. He retired in 2023 and lives with his wife of 31 years in Cape Coral, Florida.