AIA Selects New President

Chester A. (Chet) Widom, FAIA, a partner of Santa Monica-based Widom Wein Cohen, was inaugurated Saturday as the 71st president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Widom, a 1993 AIA vice president, has served as regional director for California on the AIA Board of Directors and as president and vice president/governmental affairs of the 8,500-member AIA California Council.

A founding partner of Widom Wein Cohen, a 30-year-old architectural/interior design firm with offices in Santa Monica and Mexico City, Widom has been responsible for a broad spectrum of design and project management services for institutional, high-tech, health care, corporate and government clients throughout the western U.S.

Among projects Widom has overseen are Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, Pep Boys corporate headquarters, renovation of Bovard Administration Building at USC and the Venice Family Clinic, all in Los Angeles; and Kaiser Permanente Data Processing Center in Corona.

Widom is a past two-term president of the Los Angeles Headquarters City Assn.; a founder and past president of Alternative Living for the Aging, a nonprofit group providing housing alternatives for the elderly; and a member of the L.A. Planning Commission Task Force on Design Review Boards.

A native of Los Angeles, Widom, 55, received his architectural degree from USC. He was licensed to practice architecture in 1964. He was named a fellow of the AIA in 1990.

The 1995 agenda for the 56,000-member professional society, Widom said, includes extensive public policy involvement regarding the closure of military bases and ascertaining the impact of NAFTA on the architectural profession.