AIA Executive Vice President and CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA, has been given the Mortimer M. Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Institute of Building Science in recognition of the architect’s “lifetime of dedication to mission and goals of the organization” which focuses on the ensuring community health and safety through promoting technical advancements in building science. 

Ivy has been instrumental in his decade-long tenure as the head of the largest professional organization of architects in the US, overseeing, amongst some missteps, its transition into the digital age as well as the restructuring of its board of directors and expansion to a record number of 95,000 members.

Ivy has also served as Editor-in-chief of McGraw-Hill’s Architectural Record and was a practicing architect for many years in his hometown of Columbus, Mississippi, where he still maintains a home.

“Robert’s work over the course of his career has elevated the entire profession of architecture,” Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, said in an AIA press statement. “Beyond designing buildings and spaces, Robert’s ability to effectively communicate with audiences from different backgrounds is a model for all leaders working in the built environment.”

The award’s own short history parallels Ivy’s as head of the AIA and has been given out to names like Emory R. Rodgers and Stephen T. Ayers previously. Ivy was officially replaced as AIA head by Peter Exley in December. 

“We’ve fought for architects to be included in federal legislation on PPP. We fought for tax advantages for architectural firms. Our language is actually part of the language the Biden administration is using for climate action,” Ivy told Texas Architect of his some of his last projects for the organization in an interview this summer. “A number of the proposals that you will see coming out legislatively from the current administration include the language that America’s architects put in through the association.”