Martha Thorne is the Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design, part of the innovative IE University in Madrid/Segovia, Spain. She is also the Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, a position she has held since 2005. From 1995 to 2005, she worked as curator in Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago. She has written numerous articles for books and journals on contemporary architecture and cities. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Archive of Women in Architecture and the Graham Foundation for Fine Arts. She has participated on juries for the new National Museum of Chinese Art, Zaryadye Park in Moscow and the international jury for ArcVision – Women and Architecture Prize among others.

Thorne received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She undertook additional studies at the London School of Economics.