Westfield executive chairman Frank Lowy will be handing his reign down to his sons, Peter Lowy and Steven Lowy, who have been appointed as joint chief executive officers.
Instead, Lowy will be assuming the role of non-executive chairman and reaffirmed that he will continue to contribute to the business and all major decision-making for the group.
"I am healthy and committed and I will continue to contribute to the group which has been my life for more than 50 years," he said.
Other managerial changes to the group include the appointment of Brian Schwartz as deputy chairman and the proposed appointment of the current chief financial officer, Peter Allen, who will stand for election at the upcoming annual general meeting.
Also, the company waves goodbye to David Lowy and David Gonski who have indicated that they do not wish to seek re-election at the next annual general meeting.
"All of this demonstrates a remarkable level of stability for a large, global organisation and the changes announced today continue that stability, with ongoing commitment from the Lowy family, renewal of the board and the appointment of our CFO to the board," Lowy said.
"While Westfield has always been an entrepreneurial company with the ability to move quickly to seize new opportunities or react to market conditions, our approach to succession planning has been consistent and orderly with the leadership of the Group increasingly shared more widely among the senior executive team."
All changes take effect at the annual general meeting to be held on 25 May 2011.