Irma Arguello

Irma Arguello is an international security expert from Argentina. She founded and chairs the Nonproliferation for Global Security Foundation- NPSGlobal, a private, non-profit initiative oriented to help reduce risks derived from the proliferation and use of armaments, with a special emphasis on weapons of mass destruction. The organization is also devoted to building up adequate and opportune responses to such threats at all levels, in order to increase global security.
From a conceptual point of view, she focuses her public action on promoting the idea of a world free of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular, the abolition of nuclear weapons achieved through cooperation while based on fair global rules and equity among nations. In this sense, she was appointed to participate as panelist at the International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, Oslo, February 26/27, 2008, hosted by the Norwegian Government in cooperation with the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Hoover Institution, with leaders such as George P. Shultz, Sam Nunn, Mohamed ElBaradei, and a group of scientists and experts on international security from 29 countries. She has been a speaker at several events related to the Nuclear Security Summit political process, such as the Next Generation Nuclear Security: Meeting the Global Challenge, Washington, D.C. in April 2010 or the Conference on 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. In this sense, she has performed a research on an optimum design for a Nuclear Security Brand-new Global Architecture and Governance.

Irma pursued Defense and Security studies (Master level) at the Escuela de Defensa Nacional, Argentina. Her education includes a master's degree in Business Administration from IDEA/Wharton School, and a degree (bachelor level) in Physics Science from the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

She worked as a scientist specializing in nuclear safety, design, and calculus at the Laboratory of Radiochemical Processes (LPR Project) - National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), the Argentine reprocessing project located near Buenos Aires.

Her managerial career has included international positions with focus on strategic planning, business analysis, communications, education and training, and human resources with ExxonMobil and the Latin American Petrochemical Association.

Since 2000, she has worked as an independent consultant, focused on strategies formulation and implementation, new projects, and management of change as well as a publisher of academic publications.

As part of her academic activities, she is Director of the Regional Postgraduate Course on Global Security, Disarmament and Non-proliferation, organized by the NPSGlobal Foundation. This course is the first of its kind worldwide, delivered in Spanish/Portuguese.

She is a member and Head of the Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Leadership Network for Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation – LALN – that gathers high-level former state-persons and leaders in the region to propose measures to reduce global/regional nuclear risks.

Irma is a member of the Fissile Materials Working Group Steering Committee, and Regional Representative of Latin America and the Caribbean of such group. She is also a member of the Nuclear Security Governance Expert group -integrated by globally diverse experts devoted to propose improvements in the global nuclear security regime. In addition, she is an Associate Fellow of the Chatham House, Executive Director of Argentine Branch of Women in International Security, and a member of the PIR Center International Expert Group.