A renowned architecture firm has for the first time named a woman as its top executive.
Detroit-based Albert Kahn Associates announced this week that Kimberly Montague has been appointed chief executive officer. She is the 12th CEO in the firm’s 129-year history — and the first female in the position.
Montague replaces Alan Cobb, who has been the firm’s president, CEO and chairman of the board for the past decade, the firm said.
“It’s impossible not to see Kim’s similarity to Albert Kahn in her approach,” Cobb said in a news release.
Montague started her career at Albert Kahn Associates in the mid-1990s and worked at the firm for 13 years. After stints at various other firms, she returned to Albert Kahn Associates in March of last year for the job of president.
“This is an overwhelming honor,” Montague said in the news release. “The privilege of leading Albert Kahn Associates — and of being the first woman to have that distinction — is simultaneously humbling and thrilling.”
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She added, “Mr. Kahn was an industry icon, and I am eager and determined to carry on his legacy of hard work, innovation, people-focused principles and visionary practices.”
Montague holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Michigan.
Albert Kahn Associates is headquartered in Detroit’s Fisher Building and reports 80 full-time employees. Albert Kahn, who died in 1942, designed numerous Detroit buildings during his life, including the Fisher Building, Cadillac Place, the Packard Plant and the original Detroit Free Press building.
