IGF 2025

Olga Cavalli is an Internet leader whose work has been fundamental for enhancing participation of Latin America and the Caribbean in Internet Governance.
Olga has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Mendoza, Argentina.
From early 2024 she is the Dean of the National Defense Faculty of Argentina, where she is developing new careers with focus on cyber defense.
She has been inducted with the Honorary Doctorate granted by University of Mendoza, Argentina.
Before this role, Olga was the National Director of Cybersecurity at the Chief of Cabinet of the President of Argentina. She was responsible the design of policies that provide protection to critical information infrastructures, generating and improving prevention, detection, response and recovery capabilities in the event of computer security incidents at the national level. She was also responsible for the National CERT of Argentina.
Before this role, she was appointed by the president of Argentina as Undersecretary of Information Technology, being responsible for promoting and assisting the Secretary of Innovation in the research, development and integration of Internet and telecommunications technologies to optimize the management of the Public Sector.
As an academic, she is the co-founder and the academic director of the South School on Internet Governance which has granted thousands of fellowships for attending an intensive training on Internet Governance, organized in different countries of the Americas since 2009. The school is also open to the community through remote participation with video streaming in different languages, hosting thousands of attendees from all over the world. The school offers also a Diploma in Internet Governance and Regulations granted by the University of Mendoza, Argentina, at no cost to the fellows. She is also the co-founder and director of ARGENSIG the Argentina School on Internet Governance, among other webinars and training activities.
She co-edited the book “Internet Governance and Regulations in Latin America” published in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the South School on Internet Governance. The book is free and available for the whole community in three languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Among her recent publications, she is the co-author in the book “Power and Authority in Internet Governance”, where she describes in a chapter the Role of States in Internet Governance at ICANN.
Olga has participated in all the IGF Internet Governance Forum meetings since 2006, where she has organized several workshops, open forums, booths, and has been organizer and moderator of main sessions and other activities. She has been recently appointed by the United Nation´s Secretary General as member of the MAG 2025, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group for the Internet Governance Forum IGF. She also served as MAG member between 2007-2014.
Olga is frequently invited as keynote speaker and panelist in international summits and events. During IGF 2019 that was organized in Berlin, the German Government invited her to participate in the IGF 2019 Berlin promotional video, which includes personalities like Angela Merkel and Vint Cerf, among others. She is also a frequent contributor writing papers and chapter books in subjects related to her areas of expertise.
Since 2006 Olga has been very active in ISOC. Between 2016 and 2021 she served as a member of the ISOC Board of Trustees. She is an ISOC Argentina Chapter board member and was the ISOC Argentina Chapter´s president. She was also a member of the ISOC Chapter Advisory Council.
Recognized by ISOC as a “Game Changer”, Olga works towards the inclusion of girls and women in ICTs and the Internet, organizing activities jointly with ISOC, ISOC Argentina Chapter, ITU, UNESCO, ICANN, the Argentina National Centre of Engineers and the University of Buenos Aires.
As an Internet expert, she was invited by ITU to participate in the Study Group on Internet of Things and Smart Cities.The ITU has recognized her as an innovator in this field.
Olga is very active in ICANN. Presently she is ccNSO Council Member. She was co-lead of Work Track 5 on Geographic Names at the Top Level and Vice Chair of the Governmental Advisor Committee (GAC). She was a member of the Cross Community Working Group on Accountability for the IANA transition, GNSO council member and vice chair, a member of the LAC Regional committee, among other activities.
Olga is a Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, in the National Defense University of Argentina and is also involved in the development of internet projects in rural areas of Argentina. She is frequently invited as visiting professor in universities in Argentina, Latin America, United States and Europe. She is also faculty member of several Schools on Internet Governance.
Olga was a member of the IGF Argentina committee. Previously she was a member of the LAC IGF committee, the representative of Argentina in the WSIS Tunis phase, member of the Committee of the Regional Action Plan eLAC - ECLAC for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean , coordinator of the REGULATEL IDB Regional Roaming Project, member of the National Commission of Cyber Crime of Argentina, member of the Commission for the National Digital Agenda of Argentina, and Board member of the National Engineers Centre of Argentina.
Her education includes a PhD in Business Direction, a master’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in Telecommunications Regulation, and a Degree in Electronic and Electric Engineering.
She is fluent in Spanish, English, Portuguese and German, with proficiency in French, Italian and Dutch.
Olga lives in Buenos Aires and is the mother of Juana and Federico.