Dr. Yılmaz ARGÜDEN
Dr. Argüden, is the Chairman of ARGE, an Istanbul based strategy consulting boutique known for value creating strategies and institution building. Dr. Argüden is also the Chairman of the prestigious global investment bank, Rothschild in Turkiye. His career spans private sector, public sector, multinational institutions, NGOs, and academia.
Dr. Argüden has a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the Bosphorus University, where he received both the Top Graduating Engineer Award and the President’s Prize for Student Leadership. He was a member of the High School and University basketball teams that won the National Championships. He received his PhD in policy analysis from the RAND Graduate Institute with General Distinction. Throughout his education, he received scholarships from Fulbright, TÜBITAK, and NATO.
Dr. Argüden started his career at the R&D Center of the Koç Group (1978-80). He worked at the RAND Corporation as a Policy Analyst focusing on energy policy and human resources policies (1980-85). Later he joined the World Bank where, as a Senior Officer, he participated in more than 100 loan negotiations with more than 20 countries (1985-88). Upon his Government’s invitation, he returned to Turkiye where he led the Privatization Program, when the first foreign investments were attracted to the program, the public offering of Government’s shares in industrial enterprises was initiated flourishing the Istanbul Stock Exchange, and the Turkish investment banking industry was established (1988-90). He also served as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister (1991).
At ARGE, which specializes in business strategy, business excellence methodologies, institution building, and competition, he leads the strategy, corporate structuring and partnerships, and institution building practices. ARGE has been recognized at the European Parliament as one of the best three companies “Shaping the Future” with its commitment to corporate social responsibility. ARGE is also the first Turkish signatory of the Global Compact.
Dr. Argüden has served on the boards of more than 50 institutions many of which with significant international presence such as Anadolu Efes, Borusan, Inmet Mining, and Vestel. He has also served as the Chairman of the largest Turkish steel company, Erdemir (1997-99).
Dr. Argüden is an Adj. Professor of Business Strategy at the Bosphorus University and the MBA program of the Koç University. He is also an author of numerous books and a columnist focusing on business and strategy issues.
Dr. Argüden is a social entrepreneur, seeking to improve the quality of life in the community. As the Chairman of the Turkish Quality Association, he initiated the National Quality Movement to improve the management effectiveness of private, public, and civil society institutions throughout Turkiye by promoting TQM philosophy. As the Chairman of TAIK, Turkish-American Business Council and the Turkish-Canadian Business Council, he has been a leader in developing bilateral business relations. As a Founding Board Member of the independent Turkish think-tank, Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) he has been a staunch promoter of public policy analysis. As a Founding Board Member of The Turkish Education Volunteers Foundation (TEGV), he has been active in improving the quality of education by improving delivery systems and content development. As the Founding Vice-Chairman of Corporate Volunteers Council (CVC) he is active in promoting corporate social responsibility and volunteerism. He has been selected as the National Representative of the Global Compact Network.
He is an Eisenhower Fellow, a recipient of numerous leadership, distinguished citizenship and career awards, and was selected by the World Economic Forum, as a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” for his commitment to improving the state of the world (1999).