Arathi Gowda is a team leader for SOM's High Performance Design Group which leads the firm's Sustainability practice in Master Planning, Architecture and Interiors. As an educator she is committed to training the next generation of practitioners having taught coursework on sustainable urbanism at multiple universities, currently she is adjunct faculty at IIT. She is an advocate for collective climate action and is one of 20 Steering committee members for the US Architects Declare and the co-chair of AIA Chicago's 2030 Commitment Working Group.  Additional civic commitments include the AIA Chicago Board of Directors, Global Philanthropy Partnership Board, and the USGBC IL Green Carbon Drawdown Advisory Board. 

Gowda was honored with the individual Chapter Mission Award from Illinois Green (2016) and named one of ten recipients of Green Building & Design's Women in Sustainability Leadership Award (2019). Recently she was appointed to Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Building Decarbonization task force (2021).