The AIA has announced that Robert Ivy, the editor-in-chief of Architectural Record since 1996, will become the institute’s new executive vice president (EVP) and CEO on Feb. 1, 2011. He succeeds Christine McEntee, who left the AIA in July to lead the American Geophysical Union. During the AIA’s search for a new director, Paul Welch Jr. has been serving as acting EVP/CEO.
“Bob brings to the AIA a great knowledge of our profession and has thought deeply about a profession he loves dearly,” says AIA 2010 president George Miller. “He will help the institute raise its voice across the nation and around the world.” In an AIA press release, Clark Manus, the institute’s president for 2011, said, “I am thrilled to be working with Robert in the coming year.”
Ivy, who is also the vice president and editorial director of McGraw-Hill Construction Media, is an M.Arch. graduate of Tulane University. He was a principal at Ivy Architects and the managing partner at Dean/Dale/Dean and Ivy over the course of 14 years, and was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 1993.
Ivy’s years of experience as a communications and media leader will benefit him greatly, he believes, in the difficult months and years ahead. “The AIA, in one sense, is a large network of people and ideas,” he says. “One of my central functions will be to enhance that capacity, to unlock their resources, to put people in touch with each other.” Bullish on the profession’s future, Ivy says that this is an excellent time to bring architects together, adding, “I’ll rely on my experience to make that happen.”
