Cecilia Ales has been the director of the CELS' Institutional Development area since July 2013. Cecilia was a researcher at the CELS Program on Institutional Violence and Citizen Security from 2001 to 2006, when she left the organization to work for the Argentinian national government in the citizen security area. She designed and coordinated cooperation projects for the Homeland Security Council and later for the National Secretariat of Homeland Security until she was appointed, in January 2011, Undersecretary for the Prevention of Crime and Violence at the newly created National Ministry of Security, and Undersecretary for Planning and Training in March 2012, a position she occupied until June 2013. 

In 2000 she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and in 2003 she graduated with an M.A. in Public Policy and Development Management from Georgetown University, USA. In 2019 Cecilia obtained a diploma in Leadership from the Buenos Aires Technological Institute (ITBA). She is currently studying a Specialization in International Studies at the Torcuato Di Tella University (Argentina).