Iker Gil has joined the SOM Foundation as its Executive Director.

The foundation was established in 1979 by the partners of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) with Bruce Graham as its first chairman. The mission was to offer fellowships and internships to architects and other urban professionals. In 1986, the SOM Foundation established the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism, an institute devoted to architectural research headquartered at the Charnley House, now Charnley-Perksy House.

Forty years after it was established, the SOM Foundation continues to support emerging design leaders and interdisciplinary research, advancing the design profession’s ability to address key topics of our time. It does so through the prizes, fellowships, and public initiatives such as the SOM Foundation Research Prize, Structural Engineering Research Fellowship, the UK Award, and the China Prize.

“It’s an honor to join the SOM Foundation, an organization that has been supporting graduates and design leaders for four decades,” said Gil. “I look forward to working with the leaders of the SOM Foundation to continue that support and to strengthen the research and development, thereby creating an intersection between academic and professional practices.”