About us.

Argelia Bárcena is a recognized industry leader, she serves as Women in BIM’s Head of Regional Leads for North America, encompassing Canada, United States, and Mexico. She first joined WIB as a Regional Lead. Her dedication to the industry also extends to her roles as Associate Director for the AIA San Francisco Board of Directors and serving on the AIA National Technology in Architectural Practice Leadership Committee.

An architecture graduate, her career started off in a typical path of designing spaces and buildings and halfway through her career it pivoted towards design technology, leveraging her highly technical expertise. Raised on the Mexico-US border and trilingual in Spanish, English, and French, Argelia brings a unique cross-cultural perspective. She is a Regional Design Technology Manager at Gensler, where her role covers their Northwest Region across the US and Canada. Beyond her corporate experience, she has served as adjunct faculty for several colleges and universities in San Francisco, California and has authored two textbooks on BIM. Argelia has been a speaker at the AIA National Conference, AIA San Francisco, AIA California, USC BIM Symposium, BIM Coordinators Summit, TECH+, and Autodesk University (AU) where she has earned Top-Rated Class Award.

Argelia is an Autodesk Expert Elite, a BIM Hero Medal recipient, and has been honored with the Autodesk Award for Mentorship. She has also contributed as an exam writer for various Autodesk Revit Certification Exams. In 2024, she was recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business”.