Board of Directors

Born in 1944, Zekeriya Yıldırım graduated from Darüşşafaka High School in 1962. He received a B.A. in economics from Istanbul University and a master’s from Vanderbilt University.

He began his career at the Ministry of Finance as assistant auditor and then auditor. He specialized in international finance at the Turkish Central Bank, where he started work in 1977, and played an active role in liberalizing the economy, encouraging competition, and opening up the Turkish market to international competition. He left the Central Bank in 1987 as Vice-Chairman.

Yıldırım served for a time as vice-chairman of the board and Chairman of the executive committee at Doğuş Group. He also served as chairman and member of the boards of companies affiliated with Doğuş Group and other private sector institutions. In addition, he has worked as advisor to Turkish and foreign companies.

Since 1998, Zekeriya Yıldırım has been chairman of the board of Yıldırım Danışmanlık Hizmetleri A.Ş., which provides consultancy in corporate financing, management, and strategy to leading Turkish and international companies.

Yıldırım is a partner and chairman of the board of Ada Plant A.Ş., a company that raises ornamental plants, and chairman of the board of FU Gayrimenkul Yatırım Danışmanlık A.Ş., which investigates and authenticates the legal status of immoveable properties and gives consulting to banks and financial institutions. He was on the board of Doğan Holding, Sabancı Holding (independent member) and Tekfen Holding (independent member) between 2008 and 2019 in different terms.

Zekeriya Yıldırım has been chairman of the Turkish-Dutch Business Council, under the auspices of DEİK, for 13 years. Between 2007 and 2013, he served as chairman of the board of the Darüşşafaka Society and chairman of the Darüşşafaka Society Higher Advisory Board. Yıldırım was a member of the Turkish Industrialist’s and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) High Advisory Council Presidential Board, and is on the Board of Trustees of the Ayhan Şahenk Foundation and the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. As of 25 th of March 2021, Yıldırım has been elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tekfen Holding.

Murat Gigin was born in Istanbul in 1952 and graduated from the University of Bradford in Civil Engineering in 1974. He got his master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of London in 1975. He then received his Ph.D. in Oceanic Engineering from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London.

He began his career at Tekfen Construction in 1977 as civil engineer at the Company's project in Kuwait. Upon his return to the Company's headquarters in Istanbul in 1983, he worked as coordinator on several international projects and in the New Business Department until he was appointed Deputy General Manager in 1986. Gigin was General Manager of Tekfen Construction between 1988 and 1998 and Board Member of several Tekfen Contracting Group companies until 2000. As of 25 th of March 2021, Gigin has been appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors. 

Since 1998, Gigin has served as Chairman of the Board and Executive Director at Viem Ticari ve Sanayi Yatırımları Ltd. Şti. Group of Companies (Tekzen Ticaret ve Yatırım A.Ş., Agromak Makine İmalat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., Maxlines Maksimum Lojistik Hizmetleri A.Ş., Viem İletişim Yayıncılık Reklam Turizm Hizmetleri Yatırım Ticaret A.Ş., Ekozey Ekolojik ve Organik Tarım Gıda Hayvancılık ve Turizm Taşımacılık İthalat İhracat İnşaat Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş., İmbroz Tarım Hayvancılık Gıda Sanayi Turizm ve Ticaret Ltd. Şti., Galipoli Gıda Ürünleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Ltd. Şti., ENAT Endüstriyel Ağaç Tarımı Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., and Temarı Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş). At the same time, he is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANG Yatırım Holding A.Ş.

An activist in a number of NGO's in the past, Gigin was Chairman of IPLOCA (International Pipeline and Offshore Contractors' Association) between 1995 and 1996 and is currently Member of the Board of Trustees of TEMA Foundation.

Born in 1951, Mehmet N. Erten graduated from Saint-Joseph French High School and Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration, Department of Finance.

Having started working with the Tekfen Group in 1971 as a Technical Translator, Mehmet N. Erten assumed various executive positions with different companies between 1972 and 1981. Erten, who has returned to the Tekfen Group as the Financing Manager of Toros Fertiliser, remained in this position for 3 years, and was then promoted as the Assistant General Manager of Toros Fertiliser. After 1989, he served as the General Manager and Member of the Board of Directors first at Tekfenbank, then at Eurobank Tekfen, and he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors first with Eurobank Tekfen, and then with Burganbank between 2008-2019.

Erten, who has been served as a Member of the Board of Trustees for 20 years until 2018, at the Turkish Culture Foundation, whereby he is the founder, and has chaired for three terms, is also a member of the Saint Joseph Graduates’ Association.

Erten has also played a role in the vocational training of the employees at the organizations he worked with. Erten speaks English and French.

Born in 1965, Ömer Tanrıöver is graduated from Lycee de Saint Benoit in 1984 and İstanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration in 1988. He completed his education of english in England in 1989.

Following the completion of his military duty in 1990, Tanrıöver started his career as an audit junior in Deloitte’s İstanbul office in 1991 and seconded to Deloitte’s Southampton office in the UK in 1994 for 18 months.

He made Partner of Deloitte in 2001 and worked primarily as an audit Partner until 2017. During his 16 years of tennure as Partner of Deloitte, he served as a member of the Executive Committee of Deloitte Türkiye responsible from audit function and independence, risk & reputation leader, respectively. Serving many local and multinational private and public companies operating in manufacturing, retail, service, technology, energy and construction industries as Deloitte Partner in charge of independent audits, Ömer gained expertise in the financial reporting in accordance with international financial reporting standards.

After successfuly completion of the exams in 1994, Tanrıöver is qualified as certified public accountant (SMMM) and recognised as Independent Auditor by Republic of Türkiye Public Oversight Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority in 2013.

Tanrıöver lives in Canada since 2017 and is the managing director of a private company operating in development and improvement of real estate projects. He also continues providing business, accounting and financial advisory services to companies in Canada and Türkiye. He is fluent in english and french.

Born in 1964 in Ankara, Işık Zeynep Defne Akçağlılar completed her secondary education at Robert College, then obtained her bachelor’s degree from the Telecommunications and Filmmaking Department at Pepperdine University.

Defne Akçağlılar started her career in Los Angeles and was the producer for a public relations program on KCOP-TV called In Studio, which featured political and social issues. Akçağlılar returned to Istanbul in 1995 and created game shows for Kanal D and ATV after the establishment of the Golden Horn production company. She returned to the US in 1996.

With a primary focus on feature-length films and documentaries, Akçağlılar continues to work with the leading independent film production companies of Hollywood. Defne Akçağlılar previously served on the Tekfen Holding Board of Directors for years before returning to the Board as of February 2023.

Born in New York in 1986, Sinan K. Uzan graduated from Pepperdine University (US) in International Business Administration in 2008. In 2012, he enrolled in the Family Businesses Management program at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (Illinois).

He started his career as Assistant Chairman of StarClub Interactive Networks, a Los Angeles-based company engaged in music production and Internet strategies.

Between 2011 and 2012, he acquired experience in the fertilizer business at the Swiss Keytrade company before joining Tekfen Construction as Azerbaijan Project Coordinator from 2012 to 2013. Between 2012 and 2014, he worked as systems manager at the New York Hub Surgical & Orthopedic Supplies, a technology developer for diabetic patients. He is also the founder of Ankaa LLC (California), an Internet technology investment firm.

Sinan K. Uzan was appointed to the Board of Tekfen Holding in 2014.

Zeki Ziya Sözen obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering at the Middle East Technical University, then completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the British Columbia University in Canada.

Sözen’s professional career began as a Project Manager at Studsvik Energiteknik AB in Sweden. In 1985, he returned to Turkey to join Yaşar Holding and held various positions throughout his time there before becoming General Manager at Mis Süt, a subsidiary of Tekfen Holding. Once Mis Süt, one of the largest dairy companies in Turkey at the time, was purchased by Nestle, Sözen switched to Ülker Group (Yıldız Holding) in 1996 and served as Founding General Manager at Ak Gıda. He had a number of executive roles at the same group, including Vice President for the Food Group, Business Development and R&D Head, Group President for Foreign Investments, and Group President for Food, Frozen Goods and Personal Hygiene Products.

He founded his own company in late 2014 and purchased Gönenli Süt, launched foreign investments in the fertilizer industry, and provided consultancy services to large-scale companies operating in the fertilizer market. Sözen also served as a Member of the Board at Toros Agri, a Tekfen group company, and has been Board Member at Tekfen Holding since April 2023.

Fluent in English, Sözen is married with two children.

Şevki Acuner received his initial degree from Boğaziçi University (Business Administration Dept) in 1976. He then completed a postgraduate course at Stockholm University, and this was followed by further studies in Management at Concordia University, Montréal.

Acuner began his professional career in the field of banking at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey; after which, he worked in various countries, firstly on behalf of the Bank of Montreal (Canada), then on behalf of the Royal Bank of Canada.  

Since 1996, he has been carrying out various duties within the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In 2009, he played a key role in the EBRD’s expansion to Turkey. Until 2013, he served as Deputy Country Director for Turkey; since that time, he has been serving as the EBRD’s Director for Ukraine. He has represented the bank in connection with a number of the EBRD’s shareholder equity investments, serving as an Executive Board Member. During the course of his professional life in London, he was for many years President of the Turkish Bankers Association – United Kingdom (TBA). While in Istanbul, he supervised the growth of the EBRD in Turkey. 

Acuner is the chief promoter of Ukraine’s economic transformation, and is one of the leaders of the country’s business and finance community. Among the roles he has undertaken are the Chairmanship of the Executive Board at Ukraine’s Business Ombudsman Council, the Chairmanship of its Nomination Committee, and the Vice-Chairmanship of the Executive Board at the American Chamber of Commerce. 

In Ukraine, he is currently an Independent Board Member and Board Chairman at Ukrainian Railways (UkrZaliznytsia) and the Ukraine Power Transmission Network (UkrEnergo); in Turkey, he is an Independent Board Member of Migros and Anadolu EFES companies. Since March 2019, Şevki Acuner has been an Independent Executive Board Member at Tekfen Holding.

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Born in Bolu in 1952 Sedat Eratalar graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Economy and Finance, and started his career at the Turkish Ministry of Finance. Within three years, he earned the title of financial auditor and carried on with his works in value added tax and state-owned enterprises matters.

Eratalar moved on in his career assuming the Manager position in the Tax Department of Arthur Andersen Turkey in 1981 and later became an international partner of Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1988. Eratalar is also the founding partner of Erdikler-Eratalar YMM A.Ş. (Erdikler-Eratalar CPA, Inc.), which was founded in the closing months of 1990 and became an associate of Arthur Andersen.

Between 1997 and 2001, Eratalar headed the Tax Departments of Arthur Andersen’s offices in Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria and has participated in various domestic and overseas training programmes, in addition to local and international seminars and conferences.

Sedat Eratalar, who provided in-house tax consultancy services to domestic and foreign companies that operate in banking, production, construction, tourism, and trade fields, is also an expert in foreign exchange legislation and the banking system. In September 2001, Eratalar founded his own company, Eratalar Yönetim Danışmanlık A.Ş. (Eratalar Management Consultancy, Inc.), and started providing management consultancy services to local and foreign companies in various fields, including tax, management, and financial consultancy on mergers and acquisitions.

Following a reorganisation in 2012, Eratalar Management Consultancy added a new dimension to its activities and the company title was changed.

Sedat Eratalar is a member of the Chamber of Sworn-In Certified Public Accountants and TUSIAD (Turkish Industry & Business Association), DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) and the Tax Council. Eratalar acts as a board member and auditor in a number of companies such as Deutsche Bank and Borusan Holding, to name but a few, and has also served as a member of the Board of Directors and Board of Supervisors in companies like Coca Cola, Adel Kalemcilik, Turkcell, and Deloitte. Eratalar speaks English and German.

Please click for the Statement of Independence

Mehmet Aydın Müderrisoğlu, who was born in 1948, graduated from Middle East Technical University Business Administration Department in 1971. Mehmet Aydın Müderrisoğlu, who went to USA in 1972, has master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his PhD in marketing in Pennsylvania State University. Mehmet Aydın Müderrisoğlu was a professor of marketing and business administration at Houston University for 7 years in 1980 and taught at Babson College in Massachusetts, USA and was marketing professor at Harvard University (Extension School) between 1987 and 1995.

Müderrisoğlu, who organized training programs for companies in marketing and business administration in South America’various countries  between 1990 and 1995, returned to Turkey as the Vice President of Strategy Planning in Koç Holding in 1995.

Müderrisoğlu joined Oyak Group as Deputy General Manager responsible for New Business Development in 2000 and served as General Manager and as Board Member at Ereğli Demir Çelik Fabrikaları T.A.Ş between 2006 and 2010. At the same time as a first member elected from Turkey, he became one of 13 members of the Executive Committee of World Steel Association (WSA). During his career at Oyak, he pioneered M&A activities of the companies such as Erdemir, İsken, AXA-OYAK.

Retired from OYAK in 2010, Müderrisoğlu served as a board member of Koç Holding, OYAK, Yıldız Holding (Ülker) and has been appointed independent member of the Board at Tekfen Holding as of March 24, 2022.

Selen Kocabaş started her professional career as a management trainee at Koç Group and went on to assume managerial roles at Arçelik, Marshall Boya, and DanoneSA, a Danone S.A. and Sabancı Holding partnership. She joined Turkcell in late 2002 as Chief Business Support Officer and later served in different executive positions for 13 years. After performing Human Resources, Construction, and Real Estate, General Administrative Affairs, IT, Legal, Purchasing, and Strategic Planning functions, she was appointed as Chief Corporate Business Officer in late 2010. She took on profit and loss responsibility by managing Marketing, Product, Sales and Services operations for five years. She played a pivotal role in Turkcell's transformation from a GSM operator into a technology and infrastructure company. Kocabaş left Turkcell Group in May 2015 and served as a Member of the Board in various Turkcell companies (Inteltek, known for its brand İddaa; Astelit, Turkcell's Ukrainian subsidiary; Turkcell Global Bilgi Call Center; and Turkcell Technology).

Kocabaş became the first woman to chair the People Management Association of Turkey (PERYÖN), which is Turkey's oldest civil society organization and the first corporate founding member of the Ethics and Reputation Society (TEİD). She is also a member of the Corporate Governance Association of Turkey (TKYD) and the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD). She is a Founding Board Member of the Women on Board Association Turkey (WOB Turkey) and YenidenBiz Foundation; a Founding Member of the Women in Technology Association (Wtech); and a member of the advisory board of and a mentor at Endeavor. She ranked ninth in the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list issued by Fortune magazine in 2014.

She provides strategic management consultancy and mentoring services to corporate boards and management. She is a Founding Business Partner of Mentoro Platform since 2015, Independent Board Member at Akiş REIT, an Akkök Holding company, three times in a row since 2016. She also served as the Chair of the Risk Committee and a Member of the Audit Committee.  She is currently a Board Member at Multinet Up Group and sits on the boards of Aydın Group and English Home as Advisory Member.

Selen Kocabaş has over three decades of leadership experience in business development, people management and strategy. Born in 1968 in Istanbul, Kocabaş obtained her bachelor's degree in Economics (taught in English) from Istanbul University and went on to complete her master's degree in People Management and Organizational Behavior at Marmara University. She completed the Corporate Level Strategy program at Harvard Business School Executive Education. She is married with a 24-year-old son. She speaks English and French.