He is a former [1] speaker of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) of Indonesia,[2] who became the first Indonesian parliamentary leader to be elected for two consecutive terms.

Gusman completed his undergraduate education at the Faculty of Economics of the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI), where he was chairman of the Student Senate.

[4] Irman Gusman began his political career in 1999 as member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), representing West Sumatra.

He began his second term on 2 October 2014, after winning from retired police general Farouk Muhammad of West Nusa Tenggara province, with 66 against 53 votes.

On 5 October 2016 Irman was officially discharged from his role as speaker following his controversial Sept. 17 arrest for allegedly accepting bribes.