The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) is thrilled to announce Nora Daley and Sarah Herda as the new co-chairs of its board of directors. Together, Daley and Herda will set a strategic vision for the future of the organization and galvanize support for the next edition of CAB, which will be curated by Florencia Rodriguez and will open at sites across Chicago in September 2025 under the theme Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change.

Now in its tenth year, CAB produces the largest exhibition of architecture and urbanism in North America, establishing Chicago as one the world’s premier venues for ideas about architecture and cities. Across five exhibitions, the Biennial has commissioned more than 400 original projects from architects, artists, designers, writers and thinkers hailing from countries around the world. Many of these projects have come at pivotal moments in the careers of ascendant architects and artists widely celebrated today, including the Pritzker Prize winners Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal (of the Paris-based office Lacaton and Vassal) and Francis Kéré (of the Berlin and Burkina Faso-based office Francis Kéré Architecture) as well as Jeanne Gang (of Chicago-based Studio Gang), Frida Escobedo (of Mexico City-based Frida Escobedo Studio), Sou Fujimoto (of Tokyo-based Sou Fujimoto Architects), Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston (of the Los Angeles-based office Johnston Marklee) and the Chicago-based artists Edra Soto and Amanda Williams, among others.

CAB’s city-wide exhibitions presenting works by these and many other participants have also drawn impressive attendance. To date, the Biennial has engaged over 2.2 million visitors and with each edition it has collaborated with more than 100 partner organizations in neighborhoods across Chicago.

For over two decades, Nora Daley has worked at the intersection of strategy, learning and systems rebuilding across both the public and private sectors. As a respected arts innovator and civic leader, she brings a wealth of experience in cultivating cultural partnerships and fostering community support. In her role with CAB, she will focus on deepening the organization’s engagement with communities across Chicago and is committed to expanding the accessibility of CAB’s programs for Chicagoans from all backgrounds.

“I am thrilled to be co-chairing the board of directors at such a critical juncture for CAB, as we reflect on its first 10 years of success and look ahead to an even brighter future,” said Daley. “Central to this work is my commitment to ensuring that CAB sustains and grows its key partnerships throughout the city so that its rich and dynamic programming remains accessible to all. Through CAB, Chicago stands at the heart of global conversations on architecture and urbanism and I am especially proud of the role CAB plays at the forefront of new ideas and advancements that have an impact on urban and rural communities alike. This spirit of innovation is the very fabric of who we are as a city.”

Sarah Herda is a founding board member of CAB, served as artistic director of the inaugural exhibition and has spent the entirety of her career leading cultural organizations dedicated to supporting architectural ideas and discourse. Believing architecture to be of universal relevance, Herda has led and championed countless initiatives to bring architecture and design ideas into the public forum. Now, as co-chair of the board of directors, Herda will work to grow CAB’s already substantial international presence and network of partnerships to ensure that Chicago remains one of the world’s most important laboratories for collaboration and experimentation in the field of architecture and urbanism.

“Architectural ideas are so deeply integrated in our daily lives that they are among the easiest to take for granted. For better or worse, anything and everything in the buildings, neighborhoods and cities we inhabit that provides a sense of shelter, convenience, comfort or productivity is the expression of an architectural idea. That pervasiveness makes architecture a wildly open and experimental field of interdisciplinary thinking that is endlessly optimistic and exciting. The best ideas can come from anywhere in the world and yet no city is better suited than Chicago to convene such a breadth of knowledge and the energy it brings. I cannot wait to lead CAB’s board with Nora into its second decade.”

As co-chairs of the CAB Board of Directors, Daley and Herda succeed Jack Guthman, Partner Emeritus, Taft Stettnius & Hollister, who served as the organization’s board chair for nearly a decade. During his tenure, Guthman successfully led CAB’s development efforts and oversaw the presentation of four editions of the Biennial. Guthman will continue to serve on the CAB Board of Directors as Immediate Past Board Chair, alongside fellow board members, Michelle Boone, President of the Poetry Foundation; Dave Cocagne, President and CEO of Vermilion Development; John J. Cullerton, former Illinois State Senator and Partner, Thompson Coburn LLP; Kimberly Dowdell, Principal, HOK; Helyn D. Goldenberg, Senior International Fine Arts Consultant, Sotheby’s; Lynn Lockwood Murphy; Yumi Ross, Principal, Ross Architecture and Mark P. Sexton, Founding Principal, Krueck+Sexton.

About Nora Daley

Nora Daley has focused on helping people and tirelessly strengthening communities throughout her life. She was appointed Chair of the Illinois Art Council Agency by Governor JB Pritzker in September 2022 and she continues to work with other agencies throughout the state to partner and provide access and opportunity for the creative sector. She has been in leadership as chairman of the Board of Trustees and executive committee member of multiple organizations, including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Terra Foundation for American Art, After School Matters, Navy Pier, Inc., Frances Xavier Warde School and the Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum.

Daley has served as an advisor to and active participant in various organizations, including the Illinois Justice Project, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, Hyde Park Art Center, University of Illinois Chicago and Harris School of Public Policy University of Chicago. From 2011-2019 she chaired the City of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In 2022 Daley established Raven Partners, a strategic advisory firm, to continue to build upon her work with various businesses and organizations. As a former Managing Director of Wonderworks, an immersive experiential art museum that disrupts the traditional nonprofit model, she led the relaunch, rebuild and rebrand of the museum. From 2002-2014 Daley worked as a Senior Advisor and Director of Outreach for Metropolis Strategies, an initiative from the Commercial Club of Chicago that created a civic organization focused on the growth of the regional economy to promote sustainable development and create safer communities throughout the Chicago region. Daley received a BA in Art History from Fairfield University. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children.

About Sarah Herda

Sarah Herda is the director of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation is the oldest foundation in the United States committed to awarding project-based grants to individuals and institutions working at the forefront of architecture; it also produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture and society. Herda is credited with transforming the foundation’s headquarters, the historic Madlener House, into a significant exhibition space, with an active program of talks, performances and other events. She served as the co-artistic director of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015, the largest international exhibition of contemporary architecture in North America, visited by over 500,000 people. Herda was also director and curator of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City and the director of the Center for Critical Architecture/Art and Architecture Exhibition Space in San Francisco. Herda has deep and long-standing ties to the fine arts and architectural communities in Chicago. She holds a seat on a number of boards, including the Illinois Arts Council, for which she was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker and the Architecture and Design Committee at the Art Institute of Chicago. Herda is also a founding board member of the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Association of Architecture Organizations.

About the Chicago Architecture Biennial

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) is a non-profit organization dedicated to convening the world to explore innovative ideas and bring people together to collectively imagine and shape the future of design. CAB’s programs are committed to producing opportunities to explore and address timely global issues through the lens of architecture and design, emphasizing community engagement, sustainability and equity. Free and open to the public, CAB stands as North America’s largest international survey of contemporary architecture and design. 

The signature program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial takes place every two years at the Chicago Cultural Center and sites across the city. CAB has hosted five editions since 2015: This is a Rehearsal (2023); The Available City (2021); …and other such stories (2019); Make New History (2017); and The State of the Art of Architecture (2015). The sixth edition, Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, opens in September 2025.

CAB programming throughout the year engages global audiences in conversations exploring critical ideas and questions facing the field and beyond. Over the course of its internationally heralded editions, CAB has presented projects created by more than 400 architects, designers and artists from nearly 50 countries.

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