ERDOĞAN ÖZEGEN
Chairman of the Board of Directors
He was born on 29 November, 1965, in Niğde. He graduated from the Public Administration Department of the Faculty of Economics. He served as Deputy of Niğde for the 22nd, 25th and 26th terms. He has been involved in various political activities such as being a member of The Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Affairs and The Committee on Health, Family, Labour, and Social Affairs; a member of the Parliamentary Group Board, a member of the Bureau of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM )- Assembly Chief of Administration, President of the International Commission of the Assembly, President of the Turkish Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, General Secretary of Turkish-Chinese Friendship Group and a member in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Commission on Trade Facilitation.
He has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Niğde Commodity Exchange, as a member of the Agricultural Council of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), as Chief Advisor for Corporate Relations at TOBB, as a member of the TOBB Strategy Development High Council, as Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of TOBB ETÜ Hospital, as a member of the 56th Committee of the 23rd Term of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), and as a founder or a member of various social, cultural and charitabel associations, such as the TOBB Education and Culture Foundation (TOBEV). He currently continues to serve as a member of the General Administrative Board of TOBB, a founder and member of the Board of Trustees of GS1 Turkey, a member of TOBB Strategy Development High Council, TOBB Delegation, founding member and Board of Trustees Membership of the Sinan and Selimiye Monuments Protection Foundation(SISEV) and member of the 42nd Committee of the 29th Term of ATO.
He is married and has three children.
ÇETİN ALİ DÖNMEZ
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors
Education: Bachelor of Science Degree: Boğaziçi University, Department of Industrial Engineering, 1989 Master of Arts in Management: Boğaziçi University, 1992 Ph.D.in Management: Boğaziçi University, 2006 Research Areas/Interests Capital markets, equity commodity derivative markets, corporate finance, enterprise and financial risk management, R&D and entrepreneurial ecosystems, business analysis, systems design, structured financial products. Biography Dr. Çetin Ali Dönmez was born in 1967 in Istanbul. He is a graduate of Istanbul Pertevniyal High School. He received B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering in 1989, Master of Arts degree in 1992 and Finance Ph.D. degree in 2006 from Boğaziçi University. He started his professional career as a trading floor specialist at Borsa Istanbul Equity Market in 1990. He served as one of the key experts during the transition of trading system to full automation in 2001. He is the founder director of Borsa Istanbul Risk Management Department, Mr. Dönmez was appointed as the CEO and Board Member of Turkish Derivatives Exchange in April 2008. He served as the CEO of Turkdex between 2008 and 2012. He rejoined Borsa Istanbul in 2013 as Executive Vice President and served until 2016. His area of responsibility was derivatives, precious metals and precious stones market as well as precious metals custody. He also served as the CFO at Borsa Istanbul in 2013. Dönmez joined İbn Haldun University Graduate School of Business, Department of Management as an academician in 2017. He has been serving as the Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology since July 31, 2018. He has also been a member of the investment committee of the Turkish Growth and Innovation Fund since December 21,2018. Çetin Ali Dönmez is married and has two daughters.
HASAN BASRİ KURT
General Manager
Hasan Basri Kurt was born on April 20, 1978, in Samsun. Political Scientist; He holds a bachelor's and master's degrees in International Relations. He worked as an executive at various levels at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM). Within IMM subsidiary, Health Inc. (Sağlık A.Ş.), he served consecutively as Business Development Manager, Social Services Projects Manager, and Project Coordination Manager. During this period, he managed various projects under the titles of Home Care, Women's Health, and Disabilities. He led the Social Assistance Coupon project, which enabled those in need to shop directly at markets.
He has been a co-founder and board member in various companies in the fields of information technology, food, and construction as a freelance entrepreneur. He served as a Member of Parliament representing Samsun for the 25th and 26th terms under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). In the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye (TBMM), in addition to serving as the Secretary Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, he was also a Member of the AK Party Group Management Board. During his tenure as a Member of Parliament, he worked extensively on initiatives related to the fishing and medical sectors.
He was appointed as the President of KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization) while he was the General Manager of the Management Services at the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
On May 14, 2024, he was appointed as the General Manager of the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF).
Fluent in English, Kurt is married and the father of two children.
SERDAR ÜLKER
Member of the Board of Directors
Serdar Ülker, born in 1974, completed his secondary and high school education at Çorum Anatolian High School and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Ankara University. Completing his master's degree in Public Administration at the Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States between 2006-2008, Mr. Ülker began his professional career as a trainee lawyer at the Çorum Bar Association, in 1996. In 1998, he served as a Customs Expert Assistant at the General Directorate of Customs in the Undersecretariat of Customs, and then he continued his career at the Ministry of Justice as a judge and prosecutor candidate. In 2000, he joined the Undersecretariat of Treasury’s General Directorate of Banking and Foreign Exchange as an assistant specialist and was promoted to department head in 2009, in the same unit. Between 2011 and 2012, while continuing his work as the department head at the Directorate General of State Subsidies at the Ministry of Treasury, he was appointed as the Economic Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Ottawa in 2012, where he served until 2016. Returning to his previous position in 2016, Ülker worked as a Treasury and Finance Expert at the Directorate General of Economic Programs and Research at the Ministry of Treasury and Finance from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, he was appointed as Acting Deputy Director General at the General Directorate of Financial Markets and Exchange in the same Ministry, a position he continues to hold. Fluent in English, Serdar Ülker is married and has two children.
NURİ ATEŞ
Member of the Board of Directors
Born in 1971, Nuri Ateş holds a bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Political Science at Ankara University and a master's degree in Finance from the University of Illinois. He began his professional career at the Treasury Auditors Board, in 1997, where he performed audit duties with the titles of Treasury Auditor and Treasury Chief Auditor. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the Treasury Auditors Board. From 2011 to 2015, he worked as Senior Advisor responsible for audits, social security, energy, and health matters at the Aid Delegation of the Embassy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in Nicosia. Since July 2015, he has been serving as the Treasury Chief Auditor at the Treasury Auditors Board. He is proficient in English.
CAHİT ERDOĞAN
Member of the Board of Directors
Cahit Erdoğan completed his undergraduate education at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and received his MBA degree from Rochester Institute of Technology. Erdoğan started his career at Xerox Corporation (Rochester, NY) as a Business Analyst, and in 2000, he joined the Türkiye office of Accenture where he took a step into his management consultancy career and worked until November 2009. During his career at Accenture, Erdoğan held the positions of Consultant, Manager and Senior Manager before being appointed as the Country Lead of the Management Consulting Business Line in February 2008. Erdoğan joined Yapı Kredi in 2009 as Chief Information Officer (CIO), and from July 2013 - May 2020, he served as Assistant General Manager in charge of Information Technologies and Operations at the Bank. Between May 2020 and August 2021, he held the position of Chief Operations Officer (COO), responsible from Information Technologies, Operations and Analytics, and in August 2021, he was appointed to his current role as Assistant General Manager in charge of Commercial and SME Banking Management at Yapı Kredi. Erdoğan is also a Member of the Executive Committee of the Bank since July 2013. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Yapı Kredi Technology A.Ş. between May 2015 and August 2021, and as a Member of the Board at Yapı Kredi Investment & Securities A.Ş. between March 2020 and September 2021. Besides, he is a Member of the Board at Yapı Kredi Factoring, Yapı Kredi Leasing and Yapı Kredi Bank Azerbaijan since August 2021, at Yapı Kredi Bank Nederland since October 2021, at Tanı Marketing and Communucation Services since December 2021, and at Yapı Kredi Financial Technologies since February 2022.
METİN DEMİR
Member of the Board of Directors
Born in 1975 in Kırat neighborhood of the central district of Zonguldak, Metin Demir completed his primary school education at EKİ Karadon Private Primary School, and secondary and high school education at TED Zonguldak College. He graduated from the European University of Lefke, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration in 1998. He continues his business life in the fields of mining, real estate and media in Demir Group, the family company that realized the projects on establishing the first modern shopping and living center and the first five-star hotel in Zonguldak province. He served as a Member of the Board of Directors and Assembly at the Zonguldak Chamber of Commerce and Industry between 2009 and 2015, and has been serving as the President of Zonguldak Chamber of Commerce and Industry since February 2015. His other current roles include Vice President of the Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), Member of the High Council for Strategy Development at TOBB, Member of the Board of the TOBB Personnel Insurance and Pension Fund Foundation, Member of the Board of BAKKA (Western Black Sea Development Agency), Vice Chairman of the Board of Zonguldak/Çaycuma Agriculture-based Specialized (Greenhouse) OIZ , Member of Entrepreneur Committee at Çaycuma OIZ, President of S.S. Enterprise Industrial Estate Construction Cooperative, Chairman of the Board of ZONTİM Zonguldak Trade Centers Inc., and a Member of the Board of Zonguldak Mining Machinery Manufacturers Association (MAKZON). Besides, he served as the Vice President of TOBTİM International Trade Centers Inc. between 2016 – 2023, as a Member of Zonguldak Municipal Council between 2009 – 2019, and as a Member of the Board of Zonguldak Technopark Inc. between 2018 – 2020. He is fluent in English, is married, and is the father of a son and a daughter..
ARİF ÇOKÇETİN
Member of the Board of Directors
Born in 1975 in Üsküdar, Istanbul, Arif Çokçetin graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Finance. He started his career in 1992 as a civil servant at the formerly called Ministry of Treasury and Finance. In 1996, he started to work as Assistant Financial Analyst at Vakıfbank where he later served as Financial Analyst, Assistant Manager, Branch Manager, Department Manager and Director. He was appointed as Deputy General Manager in 2020, and served as Deputy General Manager in charge of Credit Allocation Management for a while. Currently, he holds the position of Deputy General Manager in charge for Credit Monitoring, Evaluation and Rating. In addition, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors at Vakıf Factoring Inc. between 2013 – 2019, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Kredi Kayıt Bürosu A.Ş. since 2019. Also a Member of the Board of Vakıfbank Sports Club, Çokçetin is married and has two children.
RAHMİ KULA
Member of the Board of Directors
Born on October 30, 1981 in Balıkesir, Rahmi Kula graduated from Maltepe University, Department of Interior Architecture, and spent two years in the USA for the International Marketing Certificate Program at UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara). Throughout his career, he worked in various areas including purchasing, sales, management and organization for more than 15 years, and now he is a Member of the Board of Directors of Kula Yağ ve Emek Yem Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş., a family company that has been operating for four generations. He served as the President of Balıkesir Young Business People Association (BAGİAD) for three terms and as a Board Member of the Young Businessmen Confederation of Türkiye (TÜGİK). At present, he serves as a Member of the Board at Balıkesir Organized Industrial Zone (BALOSB), at South Marmara Development Agency (GMKA), and at Balıkesir University Teknokent Inc. Kula was elected as the President of Balıkesir Chamber of Commerce in April 2018 elections, and was re-elected in November 2022. He still holds this position at the chamber. He is also a Member of the General Administrative Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) and a member of the Council of Chambers of Commerce at TOBB. Rahmi Kula, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Supporting Individuals with Autism (OBİDEV) and a member of Fenerbahçe Sports Club Congress, is married and has two daughters.
A. SERDAR İBRAHİMCİOĞLU
Member of the Board of Directors
Ahmet Serdar İbrahimcioğlu, who has made significant contributions to Turkey's technology ecosystem through his innovative projects in his career and roles in the fields of entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation, graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department at Yıldız Technical University in 2008. During his university years, he initiated a venture in the manufacturing sector. After graduating, İbrahimcioğlu began working in the construction sector, where he held managerial roles in industrial facilities, art structures, and residential projects. In 2012, as a technology entrepreneur, he participated in an incubation center supported by KOSGEB and MÜSİAD. In 2013, he conducted a study on "Real Estate Valuation in Sustainable Buildings" at the Institute of Science, Department of Construction Engineering and Building Management at Yıldız Technical University. Serving as Technical Manager and Deputy General Manager at Yıldız Technical University Technopark, İbrahimcioğlu completed his second master’s degree at Bahçeşehir University’s Business Administration Department with a thesis on "Technology Planning in the IT Sector", in 2019.
He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Department of Business Administration at Gebze Technical University, focusing on "Investigating the Resilience Capacity of Technology-Focused Industry in Crisis Environments". İbrahimcioğlu, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Yıldız Technical University Foundation and the Board of Directors of Bilişim Vadisi, played a role in the establishment and committee processes of the Bilişim Vadisi Venture Capital Investment Fund in 2020 and the 4th Venture Capital Investment Fund in 2022. As the President of the Brussels-based Innovation and Technology Association, Ahmet Serdar İbrahimcioğlu is actively involved in lobbying efforts to increase the participation of Turkish tech entrepreneurs in international projects. İbrahimcioğlu works to ensure that our country, especially its youth, benefits more from the global digital economy, contributing to the Turkish game development ecosystem by Digital Game and Animation Development Inc. which he chairs. He is also a keynote speaker at universities and national and international events on topics such as the National Technology Initiative, sustainability, digital transformation of industry, and investment funds. Having served as the General Manager of Bilişim Vadisi for nearly five years, he was appointed as the President of KOSGEB by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 6, 2023.
Fluent in English, Ahmet Serdar İbrahimcioğlu is married and has three children.
