Robert A. Ivy, FAIA, who has been Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record since 1996, will become the Executive Vice President and CEO of the national American Institute of Architects, based in Washington, D.C. He assumes his new position on February 1.

Photo © André Souroujon

Robert A. Ivy, FAIA

Ivy succeeds AIA head Christine McEntee, who stepped down in July to become the executive director of the American Geophysical Union. Paul Welch Jr., Honorary AIA, has served as the acting director since her departure, while the AIA searched for McEntee’s replacement.

In addition to presiding over RECORD, Ivy has acted as the Vice President and Editorial Director of McGraw-Hill Construction Media, overseeing the editorial quality of numerous print and online publications. Under his aegis, RECORD became one of the most circulated architectural journals in the world.

Ivy facilitated RECORD¹s relationship as the publication of the AIA between 1997 and 2010. In January 2011, Hanley Wood¹s Architect magazine will become the publication of the AIA.

After assuming editorial leadership of Architectural Record, which will celebrate its 120th anniversary in 2011, Ivy steered the magazine into a period of growth and development with award-winning issues. Under his tenure, RECORD won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2003 and numerous awards from the business press.

“Being editor of Architectural Record fulfilled a lifelong ambition,” Ivy says. “I was privileged to serve as a steward for the publication during a fascinating time, from the challenges of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to the digital transformation of architecture and even of publishing.”

In 2009, Ivy received the Crane Award, the American Business Media’s highest recognition for an individual, for his lifetime contributions to the press. In 2010, he was named a Master Architect by Alpha Rho Chi, the architectural fraternity; he joins a list of recipients including Buckminster Fuller and I.M. Pei.

Ivy holds an M.Arch from Tulane University and a B.A. in English from the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. The AIA published Ivy’s book Fay Jones: Architect in 1992. Ivy is a member of CICA, the International Circle of Architecture Critics, a former national board member of the AIA and the American Architecture Foundation.

Ivy and his wife Holly plan to relocate from New York to Washington, D.C.

“I'm pleased that Architectural Record, and the family of McGraw-Hill design and construction publications, stands ready to help inspire another generation,” Ivy says. “I personally look forward to working with America's architects as they prepare for the future.”