Russell A. Davidson, FAIA, Managing Principal & President of KG&D Architects, was inaugurated as the 92nd President of the AIA during ceremonies held last month at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. He succeeds the 91st President, Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA, in representing nearly 88,000 AIA members.
Davidson has held a multitude of elected positions within the AIA including serving as president of AIA Westchester + Hudson Valley in 1999 and president of AIA New York State in 2007. He joined the AIA National Board in 2009 and served as AIA vice president from 2012-2013. Throughout his national leadership tenure, Davidson has maintained a special focus on government and public advocacy for architects and architecture.
"Now is the time to move from good to great and to fully realize the potential of one of our country's oldest professional associations," said Davidson at his inauguration. "In an election year we will leverage the attention paid to the future of America to point out that architects, along with our partners in the design and construction industry, not only designed the places that define American cities, towns and villages but also are the leading edge of a major economic force."
Davidson earned a BA from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. and completed the MArch program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. KG&D Architects is a general practice regional firm that focuses on public buildings including K-12 schools, colleges, religious, and municipal buildings. The majority of the firm's work involves building consensus to support projects either through public votes or private decisions of committees or Boards of Directors. The firm has constructed over $600 million worth of public projects in the lower Hudson Valley in the last 10 years, many of which have won local AIA design awards.