The American Institute of Architects (AIA) celebrated a significant organizational milestone with the inauguration of Kimberly Dowdell as its AIA National President for 2024. 

The AIA's 100th president overall is also the first-ever Black woman to head the post, following in the wake of 2023 President Emily Grandstaff-Rice.

At an inauguration ceremony last Friday, December 15th, the Cornell University and Harvard Kennedy School alumna who formerly headed the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) from 2019 to 2020, said: "Being elected as the 100th president of AIA is both an honor and responsibility that I embrace wholeheartedly.”

“My journey in architecture, from my roots in Detroit to this influential role, has deepened my conviction that design has the power to transform communities and elevate the human experience,” she continued. “This opportunity to serve my profession beautifully aligns with my overarching mission to improve people's lives through design, fostering a shared vision of a future built environment that nurtures progress, equity, and sustainability for all.”

Listen to our 2019 Archinect Sessions podcast interview: Madame President Goes ALL-In; A Conversation with NOMA President Kimberly Dowdell

Dowdell is also currently employed as a Principal in HOK’s Chicago office and has since 2022 served on the Board of Trustees at Cornell. Outside of practice, she has stood out for her efforts in co-founding of the SEED Network and academic contributions as a lecturer at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning between 2016 and 2019. Dodwell was also named a Young Architects Awards recipient by the AIA in 2020.

DEI and other initiatives to support the business of design, making architecture more accessible to aspiring professionals and the public, meeting the organization's goals concerning climate change, and envisioning the ever-changing future of architectural labor were all part of her successful campaign platform.

“We’re really focused on our strategic plan, the priorities that we’ve been talking about for the last few years: Climate action and equity,” she said of the AIA’s 2024 outlook. “Finding ways to ensure that those two things are threaded through everything we do is really important. We are also thinking about how to best sustain the AIA for the future. And then as a board, our responsibility is to stay laser-focused on climate action and equity. And also address the question, how do we promote the practice of architecture to really raise the public profile of the architect so that we can have a greater impact in our local community and on the global scale?”

Dodwell joins EVP and CEO Lakisha Ann Woods and 2024 President-elect Evelyn Lee in helping the AIA mark its second consecutive year of having an all-female leadership team. You can read AIA Chicago Executive Director Jen Masengarb’s 'More in '24' sit-down interview with the new national AIA president here.