Associate Director Arathi Gowda has been appointed to AIA Chicago’s 2021 Board of Directors, a representative leadership body elected by the local membership each year. Members of AIA Chicago’s Board of Directors include leaders from local firms, non-profits, and organizations in the design community.
Gowda is a team leader for SOM’s High Performance Design Group, which spearheads the firm’s sustainability work. As an educator, she is committed to training the next generation of sustainable practitioners, having taught coursework on sustainable urbanism at multiple universities. She is an advocate for collective climate action and is the co-chair of AIA Chicago’s 2030 Commitment Working Group and one of 20 Steering Committee members for U.S. Architects Declare. In 2016, Gowda was honored with the individual Chapter Mission Award from Illinois Green and in 2019 was named one of ten recipients of Green Building & Design’s Women in Sustainability Leadership Award.