Mark Robbins succeeds Adele Chatfield-Taylor

Mark Robbins has been selected as the president and CEO-elect of the American Academy in Rome, where he was a fellow in design in 1996-1997.

Robbins takes up his new position in January, succeeding Adele Chatfield-Taylor who has led the Academy for 25 years. Robbins is an architect and artist and will leave his current role as the executive director of the International Center of Photography in New York. He is also a lecturer, adminstartor and art critic, and sits on a number of boards of prestigious arts bodies.

As an artist Robbins has exhibited in the US, Australia, Japan and Rwanda, and his work is represented in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Chatfield-Taylor's legacy includes overseeing the restoration of the Academy’s McKim, Mead & White building, the implementation of a hugely successful fundraising campaign, and the introduction of the Rome Sustainable Food Project which invites US chefs to explore Italian sustainable food traditions as well as cook for the academy's guests.

Thanking his predecessor for her "inspired work", Robbins said "The Academy must continue to attract the strongest, most diverse candidates across disciplines whose work makes the lessons of Rome a vibrant part of modern intellectual and creative life."