Dr. Yılmaz Argüden is a strategist, governance expert, advisor, and board member of major public and private institutions, and NGOs. He is the Founder and Chairman of ARGE Consulting, a globally recognized management consulting firm based in Istanbul. ARGE has served as B20 Knowledge Partner (Governance & Sustainability), EFQM Advisory Organization, and IFRS Integrated Reporting Training Partner. ARGE Consulting is the first Turkish signatory of the UN Global Compact and has been recognized at the European Parliament as one of the best three companies “Shaping the Future” with its commitment to corporate social responsibility.
He has worked as chief strategy advisor at the Koç Holding, worked at RAND Corporation and the World Bank before returning to Türkiye to lead the Privatization Program and served as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister. Later he served as the Chairman of Erdemir, the largest Turkish steel company, and as the founding Chairman of Rothschild & Co. Türkiye. He also served as an independent board member for more than 70 companies in different jurisdictions.
He is an author of numerous books and a columnist focusing on strategy, quality, sustainability, and governance issues. He has served as an adjunct Professor of Strategy at the Bogazici University, Koç University, and the Military Academy.
As a renowned governance expert, he served as the Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Business at OECD and as a member of the IFC’s Corporate Governance Advisory Group and as the Chairman of the Trustees of Argüden Governance Academy.
As a social entrepreneur he has founded and led numerous NGOs and initiated the National Quality Movement. As the elected Global Chair, he represented the National Networks on the Board of the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest sustainability platform.
He has a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the Bogazici University, where he received both the Top Academic Achievement Award and the President’s Prize for Student Leadership. He received his PhD in policy analysis from the RAND Graduate School with General Distinction. He was a playmaker for the High School and University basketball teams that won the National Championships and later served as the Vice-Chair of Turkish Basketball Federation.
He is an Eisenhower, Fulbright, NATO, and Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (Tübitak) fellow. He was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum (1999), received the Distinguished Citizenship Award for his efforts in the development of Turkish-American relations (2008), and the Distinguished Industry Leadership Award from the International Industrial Engineering Society (2022).