Michael Kercheval

Mike Kercheval is the Executive Director of the Real Estate Center at the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado Boulder.

As the Center’s Executive Director, Mike manages and promotes the important relationships between the real estate industry and the academic community through a number of initiatives focusing on business education preparedness, career development and mentoring, and advancement of industry best practices. 

Prior to joining the Center, Mike served as President and CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the world’s largest commercial real estate trade association, for sixteen years.  Under his tenure, Mike dramatically expanded the association’s professional education, advocacy, research, and networking activities and doubled ICSC’s global membership to over 70,000 across more than 100 countries.

Prior to ICSC, Mike spent thirteen years as a portfolio manager and real estate investment banker in New York, at Equitable Real Estate Investment Management and its successor companies, the final three years working in Latin America as CEO of Lend Lease Latin American Realty Advisors.

Earlier in his career, Mike was a senior economist with Equitable Life Assurance Society, taught Urban Economics at Columbia University in New York and worked in the 1980’s as a staff economist on the Colorado Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Growth Management. 

A Colorado native and Boettcher Scholar, Mike holds a master’s degree and PhD (ABD) in economics from Columbia University and graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a triple major in economics, political science and international affairs.