Headshot of George ArgyrosAmbassador Argyros is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arnel & Affiliates, a prominent West Coast diversified Investment Company, with corporate offices located in Costa Mesa, California.

He is also a General Partner in Westar Capital, a private investment company. From 1981 to 1987, he was co-owner of AirCal, which was successfully sold to American Airlines in 1987; and from 1981 to 1989, he was owner of the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club of the American League for nine full seasons.

Mr. Argyros is a member of the Board of Directors for First American Corporation (NYSE). Prior to his ambassadorship, he was a member of the Board of Directors for Rockwell International Corporation (NYSE) and The Newhall Land and Farming Company (NYSE.)

Mr. Argyros is an International Councilor and Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. that provides world leaders with strategic insights on and policy solutions to global issues; Trustee Emeritus of Library of Congress Open World Leadership Board; former Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Member of the Hoover Institution’s Board of Overseers, former Chairman of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation; Founding Chairman for the Nixon Center in Washington, D.C.; Board of Regents for the Orange County Council Boy Scouts of America, as well as former Chairman and Board Member of the Council; Chairman Emeritus of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, a major philanthropic foundation for scientific research.

Ambassador Argyros was a 1993 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award of Distinguished Americans, perhaps the single most coveted award given in America to non-military, non-show business individuals. He served as President and CEO of the Washington, D.C.–based Horatio Alger Association from 1995 to 1998, Chairman from 1998 to 2000, and currently serves as Treasurer and Chairman Emeritus. In 2004, he was selected by the Horatio Alger Association to receive the Norman Vincent Peale Award in recognition for his ongoing involvement in the Association and his humanitarian contributions to society.

Ambassador Argyros was the 2007 recipient of the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Scholarship Foundation. In June 2005, through the Horatio Alger Association, he and Mrs. Argyros initiated the first national college scholarship program exclusively for veterans who have served honorably in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. As of January 2009, 2,349 scholarships had been awarded to these veterans.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Pasadena, California, Ambassador Argyros graduated from Chapman University in 1959 with a major in Business and Economics. Ambassador Argyros sits on the Board of Trustees for Chapman University and the Board of Counselors of the Argyros School of Business and Economics.