Corporate

Born in İzmir in 1955, Ömer Yüngül finished the Boğaziçi University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1978. Kicking off his career at the construction company Tekfen İnşaat, Yüngül filled various managerial posts in Metaş, Faz Elektrik, and Merloni Elettrodomestici. Joining Zorlu Holding as the General Manager of Vestel Beyaz Eşya, a white goods manufacturer, in 1997, Yüngül became Chairman of the Vestel Executive Board in 2000. Following a successful 15 years in Vestel management, Yüngül became the first CEO of Zorlu Holding in 2013.

Speaking fluent English and Italian, Ömer Yüngül is married with one child.

İlker Özcan completed his undergraduate education at İstanbul Technical University’s Department of Civil Engineering in 2000, and then his master’s degree in Industrial Engineering at Leuven University in Belgium. Özcan successfully served as Regional Manager at Gondola Holding between 2004-2009, Operations Manager at İstanbul Doors Group between 2010-2012, Operations Director at Dream Group between 2012-2015, General Manager at Meri’s Group between 2015-2017, and General Manager of Zorlu Yapı Yatırım A.Ş. Gourmet Branch, one of the Zorlu Group companies between 2018-2022. İlker Özcan has been appointed as the General Manager of Zorlu Center as of June 1, 2022.

Özcan is married with one child.

(1967 - Ankara) Cem Köksal graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1988, and completed his master's degree at Bilkent University in 1990. Köksal worked in the banking sector between 1990 and 2001. Köksal, who started working as Deputy General Manager at Denizbank in 1997, joined Vestel in 2002 as the Chief Financial Officer. Köksal, who continues to serve as an Executive Board Member and Board Member at Vestel Group of Companies, has been a Board Member of Zorlu Enerji since 2002.

Köksal, who left his position as Zorlu Holding Financial Affairs Group President, which he had held since 2012, and assumed the role of Zorlu Holding Deputy CEO as of March 2024, has also served as a Board Member at Zorlu Holding AŞ since 2022. Cem Köksal; He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Togg, a Member of the Board of Directors of UN Global Compact Turkey and an Alternate Member of the Board of Directors of the Business World and Sustainable Development Association (SKD).

Ergün Güler, who holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from Dokuz Eylül University and an MBA degree from Bilkent University, started his career at Vestel in 2006-2012 as Finance Specialist and served as the Deputy General Manager in charge of Financial Affairs and Treasury between 2006 and 2012. Appointed as Corporate Risk and Treasury Coordinator at Zorlu Holding in May 2012, Mr. Güler served as General Manager in charge of Domestic Sales and Marketing at Vestel Ticaret AŞ between October 2012 and September 2023. Ergün Güler, who became the President of Vestel Group of Companies in September 2023, attended Stanford University's Stanford Lead programme.

Born in Kilis on 1 February 1956, Necmi Kavuşturan finished İstanbul High School followed by Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Science. Embarking upon his career as a specialist with the İş Bank of Turkey in 1979, Kavuşturan became Deputy General Manager of İnterbank in 1985, supervising projects involving management trainee programs, open performance systems, and total quality management. From 1997 to 2003, he served as Denizbank’s Deputy General Manager in charge of Management Services, running the bank’s advertising, public relations, construction, and purchasing departments. Since 2003, Kavuşturan has been working for Zorlu Holding as Human Resources Group Head and filling a member’s seat on the Executive Board of the Vestel Group of Companies and the Board of Directors of Zorlu Property.

Necmi Kavuşturan is married with one child.

Born in Bursa in 1966, Necat Altın graduated from Textile Engineering Department of Uludağ University in 1987. Altın started his career at a Zorlu Holding company, Korteks A.Ş., in 1992. Necat Altın, took part in world’s largest polyester yarn production facilities as the Project Coordinator and fulfilled a highly important function for the timely completion of the project. After working as Deputy General Manager in charge of production between 1999 and 2004, Necat Altın was then appointed as General Manager of Korteks in 2004. Altın, who worked as Vice President of Zorlu Holding Textile Group since 2016, has become Zorlu Holding Textile Group President as of 01.01.2018. Altın, was board member at several nongovernmental organizations like Turkish Synthetic Yarn Producers Union and Bursa Organized Industrial Zone Industrialists and Businessmen Association (BOSİAD), and he has been acting as the Board Chairman of the European Man-Made Fiber Association, one of the world’s leading man-made and synthetic yarn platforms since November 2017. Fluent in English language,

Necat Altın is married with two children.

(1971 - Ankara) Sinan Ak graduated from the Department of Business Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1995 and received his master’s degree in business administration from Old Dominion University in the United States. He began his career as an investment specialist at Evgin Yatırım Menkul Değerler, a brokerage firm, in 1995 and joined Zorlu Group in 2000, where he served as the finance chief at Vestel Komünikasyon until 2002 and as finance manager at Vestel Beyaz Eşya between 2002-2006. Mr. Ak joined Zorlu Energy Group in 2006 and served as the Assistant General Manager responsible for Financial Affairs at Zorlu Enerji until January 2012, when he was appointed as the Company’s General Manager and also served as the General Manager of two other Zorlu Energy Group companies: Zorlu O&M Enerji Tesisleri İşletme ve Bakım Hizmetleri AŞ and Zorlu Endüstriyel ve Enerji Tesisleri İnşaat Ticaret AŞ. Sinan Ak, was appointed as Sector Head of the Zorlu Energy Group in December 2016.

Sinan Ak is married with 2 children.

(1953, Istanbul) Ahmet C. Dördüncü, graduated from Çukurova University, Department of Business Administration. Later, he pursued his postgraduate studies at Mannheim and Hannover Universities. Mr. Dördüncü began his professional career at Claas OHG Company in Germany, and after returning to Turkey, he worked at Mercedes Benz A.Ş. between 1984 and 1987. He joined Sabancı Group in 1987, and assumed several positions at Kordsa A.Ş. until 1998. Mr. Dördüncü served as General Manager/President at DUSA South America, and later at DUSA North America in 1998. After working as Group President of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Sabancı Holding A.Ş. in 2004, he assumed the position of Chairman of the Executive Board of Sabancı Holding from 2005 to 2010. Mr. Ahmet Cemal Dördüncü, member of the board of directors of Akkök, also serves as the Member of the Board of Directors of various Akkök companies. Mr. Dördüncü is the Chairman of the United Nations Global Compact Turkey. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors in International Paper Co. companies. He speaks English, German and Portuguese. Ahmet Dördüncü started serving as a Board Member at Zorlu Holding in 2023.

Filiz Ova, who completed her high school education in Germany, studied Art History and American Literature at the University of Tübingen. In 2014, Ova joined the international education program of Devos Institute for Arts Management, implemented in cooperation with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and University of Maryland, becoming the first art director from Turkey to be accepted to the program.

Filiz Ova, who started her career at the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts in 2006, worked in the media relations department of the institution. Upon transferring to İş Art in 2008 after her office at İKSV, Ova started serving as Assistant Art Director and continued as Art Director until she left the institution in 2018. In addition to her duty as General Manager of Zorlu PSM, Ova currently teaches “Space and Logistics”, which deals with the management of healthy and sustainable cultural institutions, as visiting lecturer at the “Arts and Cultural Management” department of İstanbul Bilgi University’s Faculty of Communication.

Burak Okay, who was born in Ankara in 1967 and completed his middle and high school education at TED Ankara College, graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1990. After completing the International Law Program in New York, he started working as a lawyer at the Legal Consultancy Department of Türkiye İş Bankası.(Isbank). Afterwards, he worked as Associate Counsel at Garanti Bankası (Garanti Bank), as Legal Consultant at MNG Bank, as Legal Affairs Director at Nortel Networks Netaş, and as partner at Bener Law Office. Okay joined the Zorlu Group in 2006 and restructured the Law Department which serves all companies of the Holding. Burak İ. Okay is married with two children.

Born in Kayseri in 1960, Orhan Yılmaz graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of Gazi University in 1984. After completing his post-graduate and graduate studies in the same University, Yılmaz started his career as an engineer at the boron and acid factories of Etibank in 1986. He worked as chief engineer, principal engineer and organization manager in the same company before assuming the post of deputy manager in 2003. And in 2004, Yılmaz was appointed as General Manager and at the same time Chairman of Eti Maden, the biggest mining corporation of Turkey, which positions he maintained until 2015. Yılmaz worked as Counsellor at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources between 2015 and 2017, and was appointed as Zorlu Mining Group President on January 2017.

Orhan Yılmaz is single with three children.

Ege Karapınar is a graduate of İzmir American High School for Girls and METU Department of Industrial Engineering. She started her career at the Human Resources Department of Yaşar Holding, and served as Executive Vice President at Yaşarbank between 1993-1998. In 1999, she worked as HR Director and Field Sales Manager for one year at Fritolay Turkey. She later served as the Vice President of HR and Sales Competency Development at PepsiCo, and since 2006 has assumed different roles in PepsiCo’s global organization. In 2011, she became the General Manager of Human Resources at Yıldız Holding. She has increased her leadership experience in different cultures and organizations by working as a senior executive in PepsiCo’s head office in New York, in Dubai, the center of PepsiCo Asia, in the Middle East and Africa Region, and United Biscuits in England, which was acquired by Yıldız Holding. Since 2017, she has been advising the Boards of Directors of Turkish companies in the fields of institutionalization, leadership, cultural change, globalization and organizational design with her knowledge and experience gained in local and international companies. In addition to being a member of the company’s Board of Directors, Karapınar also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of SEV (Health and Education Foundation). She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the said foundation. Ege Karapınar started serving as a Board Member at Zorlu Holding in 2022.

Receiving her BS from the Electronics Department of Boğaziçi University after finishing Beşiktaş Anatolian High School, Ayşe Yağcı launched her career in tourism industry. After spending some time as a professional, she became a founding partner and manager of Jules Verne Travel&Event in 1998, a position she held until 2004. Under her leadership, backed with 20 years of experience in various fields of tourism industry, Jules Verne Travel&Event joined Zorlu Holding in 2004. Yağcı, who writes articles on tourism and travel for numerous newspapers and magazines, is also engaged in civil society efforts through her chairmanship of the E-Travel Committee of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB) and her membership in the Tourism Working Group of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD).

Following BS and MS studies in Bilkent University’s Electrical/Electronic Engineering Department, Murat Zeren did his PhD in the Ohio State University in the USA. Heading R&D and software teams in Alcatel Teletaş, Telsim, and Oksijen Teknoloji upon returning to Turkey, Zeren ventured into the academic world as an Assistant Professor at the Computer Engineering Department of Boğaziçi University from 2002 to2004 during which period he served as arbitrator and consultant on the projects of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Having occupied managerial positions at various levels with the Ülker Group, Argela Teknoloji, and Türk Telekom, Zeren had been working as Technology Group Head in Doğan Online before joining Zorlu Holding.

Murat Zeren is married with one child.

Born in Kayseri in 1959, Fikret Özdemir graduated from the Atatürk University’s Faculty of Business Administration in 1980. Starting his working life as an Assistant Auditor with the Audit Board of Pamukbank in 1981, Özdemir joined the Zorlu Group as Manager of Denizbank’s İzmir Branch in 1997 quitting his post as Pamukbank’s İzmir Branch Manager. He was subsequently assigned as Regional Director for the Aegean, General Manager of Tarişbank, Deputy General Manager in charge of Corporate Marketing, and General Manager of Deniz Faktoring as well as CEO of Timur Holding for one year.

Reuniting with the Zorlu Holding family in the beginning of 2012, Özdemir supervised the establishment of Zorlu Faktoring.

Özdemir is married with one child.

Graduating from Dokuz Eylül University, Department of Industrial Engineering in 1985, Alp Dayı received a Finance diploma from the University of California, UC Berkeley in 2006. Alp Dayı, who has been working as a senior manager in charge of financial affairs in various industrial organizations since 1987, joined the Vestel Group of Companies in 1999. Since 2012, he has served as the CFO of Vestel Group of Companies, responsible for both domestic and international subsidiaries of Vestel.

Billur Demet Atan graduated from Istanbul University School of Business in 1986 and completed her Master’s degree in the same department in 1988, specializing in international management. She embarked upon her career the same year and started working for Ernst & Young as independent auditor. Atan took office at Ernst & Young’s Chicago (USA) bureau between years 1995-1996 and became its audit partner in 1998. Atan was Head of Independent Auditing at Ernst & Young Turkey between 2000-2012 and joined Zorlu Holding in 2013. As Audit General Manager of Zorlu Holding, she was in charge of internal auditing, tax auditing and financial auditing between 2013-2021, and has been working as Audit General Manager since June 1st, 2022.

Atan is a member of the Expert Accountants’ Association of Turkey, the Istanbul Chamber of Independent Accountants and Financial Advisors and the Institute of Internal Auditing of Turkey.

Koray Yazıcıoğlu, born in İzmir, June 1973, graduated from Naval High School/Heybeliada in 1991 and Naval Military College in 1995. Following his graduation, he served as a branch officer on surface ships of the Navy for two years. In 1997, he was given a helicopter pilot course and received his pilot brevet in 1998, in the Naval Forces Command and Coast Guard Command Helicopter Flight Fleets; Maintenance Exit Test Pilot served as a Teacher Pilot in administrative and managerial positions until 2012. In 2012, he left the Armed Forces at his request and started to serve as a Helicopter Captain Pilot within Zorlu Aviation. Captain Pilot Koray Yazıcıoğlu, who served respectively as Security Manager and Flight Safety Manager at Zorlu Aviation, was appointed as the General Manager of ZorluHavacılık A.Ş in January 2020. Captain Pilot Koray Yazıcıoğlu, fluent in English, is married and has two children.

After graduating from Üsküdar American Academy, Arzu Pişkinoğlu completed her undergraduate study at the Economy Department of Boğaziçi University before starting her Professional career as an independent auditor at Ernst & Young. Pişkinoğlu then worked as Quality Assurance Department manager at Citibank Retail Banking and she was assigned as manager at Ernst & Young’s Consultancy Department. In this position, Pişkinoğlu gave consultancy service to many domestic and foreign companies engaged in diverse fields on many subjects including internal control, process development, risk management, internal audit, harmonization and financial transformation and became Consultancy Department Partner in charge of Risk Services in 2007. Pişkinoğlu joined Zorlu Holding in 2016. Pişkinoğlu conducts the Holding’s activities on the subjects of internal control, process risk management, process development and audit. She has many domestic and international certificates including Independent Accountant and Financial Advisor, Certified Internal Accountant (CIA), Certified in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA), Certified Internal Control Auditor (CICA).

Pişkinoğlu is married with two children.

(1957, Diyarbakır) Tayfun Bayazıt graduated from S. Illinois University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1980, and completed his MBA in International Business and Finance at Columbia University in 1983. He served as CEO and/or Chairman of the Board at Banque de Commerce et de Placements, Switzerland between 1996-1999, Dışbank between 2001-2005, Fortis Bank between 2005-2007 and Yapı Kredi Bank between 2007-2011. Having founded Bayazıt Consulting Services in 2011, Tayfun Bayazıt serves as Member or Chairman of the Board at various institutions and associations. Tayfun Bayazıt took office as Zorlu Holding Board Member in 2022.

Born in Trabzon in 1975, Selen Zorlu Melik graduated from the Business Administration Department of Uludağ University’s Faculty of Economic and Administrative Science. Stepping into the business life at the Bursa branch of Denizbank, a Zorlu Holding company, in 1998, Selen Zorlu Melik filled various posts at the General Directorate of Denizbank. She attended the Marketing Degree Program at the University of California in 2001. Taking up a post in Korteks İplik, which manufactures thread, in 2002, Selen Zorlu Melik has been the Deputy Head of the Zorlu Energy Group and a board member in the Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Üretim A.Ş., a power producer, since 2005 along with her board memberships in various companies of Zorlu Holding. She has been acting as the Deputy Group Head for the Zorlu Energy Group since April 2012.

Selen Zorlu Melik is married and a mother of two.

Born in the Babadağ county of Turkey’s Denizli province in 1939, Zeki Zorlu carried the profession of weaving he had taken up as a child over to the realm of commerce with the first store the family opened in Trabzon. Adding manufacturing to their list of operations following the company headquarters’ relocation in İstanbul in 1970, Zeki Zorlu laid the foundations of Korteks in Bursa in 1976. Establishing Zorlu Holding together with his brother Ahmet Zorlu and making Vestel a part of it in 1994, Zeki Zorlu played a key role in the establishment and acquisition of numerous companies in the industries of energy, tourism, and property development.

In addition to his current status as the Vice Chairman of Zorlu Holding, Zeki Zorlu chairs various group companies in the industries of textile, energy, and property development.

Actively engaged in the work of non-governmental organizations, Zeki Zorlu is the Vice Chairman of the Textile Industry Assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). Having served two years on the Board of Directors of the Bursa Industry and Business Association (BUSİAD), Zeki Zorlu is a member of the International Patent Cooperation Union, the Bursa Disaster Association (BURAD), the Foundation for the Empowerment of the Uludağ University, the Turkish Society for Quality (KALDER), the Association of Artificial Synthetic Fiber Manufacturers (SUSEB), the Bursa Research Foundation, and the Association for International Competition and Technology.

Zeki Zorlu is married with three children.

Born in the Babadağ county of Turkey’s Denizli province in 1944, Ahmet Zorlu started his business life at an early age working in textiles, his father’s profession. A textile trade in the store he opened in Trabzon in the early years of his business life grew to become the foundations of Zorlu Holding after Ahmet Zorlu relocated the company headquarters in İstanbul in 1970. Establishing Korteks, his first manufacturing company, in 1976, Ahmet Zorlu gathered all of his companies under the roof of Zorlu Holding in 1990. Adding the Vestel brand to Zorlu Holding in 1994, he opened the door to new lines of business. Zorlu’s entrepreneurialism which began with textile industry went on to manifest itself in more companies operating in highly diverse fields such as white goods, electronics, property development, energy, metallurgy, and defense.

With a keen interest in civil society work, Ahmet Zorlu holds memberships in the Board of Directors of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), the Education and Culture Foundation of the Society of Denizli (DENBİR), the Babadağ Industry and Business Association (BASİAD), and the Turkish Home Textiles Industry and Business Association (TETSİAD).

Ahmet Zorlu conducts his social responsibility work through the Mehmet Zorlu Education, Health, Culture, and Solidarity Foundation (MZV) he founded in 1999 which has given scholarships to a large number of students and had many schools built.

Ahmet Zorlu attaches a great deal of importance to the social efforts intended to boost the Turkish business world’s effectiveness abroad. He was awarded the Royal Spanish Order of Civil Merit by King Juan Carlos I of Spain in 2007 for his endeavors to develop and consolidate relations between Spain and Turkey.

Ahmet Zorlu is married with three children.

(1965, Trabzon) Olgun Zorlu began his professional career in 1986 after completing his higher education in textiles and business administration in the UK. He started to serve in managerial positions at various Zorlu Group companies in 1988, leading their foreign market research and business development operations. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Board of Meta Nikel, Olgun Zorlu is also a Board Member at Zorlu Energy, Vestel White Goods, Vestel Electronics and various companies affiliated with Zorlu Holding. A Zorlu Holding Board Member since 1998, Zorlu has assumed the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Zorlu Holding as of 2022. Zorlu is a member of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) and the Turkish Home Textile Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TETSİAD).

1976, İstanbul) After graduating from Feyziye Schools Foundation Işık High School, Şule Zorlu pursued her undergraduate studies in the USA. Completing the first two years of her university education at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, Zorlu studied business administration at Silberman College FDU, one of the world’s most important universities in the field of business administration, for the next two years. During her education at Silberman College FDU, Zorlu worked in sales and marketing strategies and customer relations at Zorlu USA, Zorlu Holding’s company in America, and returned to Turkey in 1999 and joined the Management Trainee (MT) program at Denizbank. For two years, she worked in the bank’s various branches and headquarters, at corporate loans and risk management units. She then assumed the duty of Executive Board Member at Anadolu Kredi Kartları A.Ş., which merged with Denizbank in early 2002.

Zorlu served as General Manager for Marketing at Linens under Zorlu Textiles Group between 2003 and 2007, and worked in various fields such as R&D and P&D studies, expansion of the merchandising network and customer experience management, in order to strengthen the brand’s access to the end consumer and to fortify the retail network. In 2008, she served as Board Member at Zorlu Gayrimenkul Geliştirme ve Yatırım A.Ş. and Zorlu Yapı Yatırım A.Ş. Taking on different responsibilities at the Council of Shopping Centers and the Corporate Governance Association, Şule Zorlu brought the Eataly brand, one of Italy’s most important market and restaurant chains located in different cities of the world, to Turkey and introduced the Eataly kitchen and retail experience to İstanbul customers for the first time. Between 2012-2019, she also served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Z Gurme Restaurant Gıda San. ve Tic. A.Ş. Continuing her duty as a Board Member of Vestel Beyaz Eşya Sanayi and Vestel Ticaret A.Ş., Zorlu became a Board Member of Zorlu Holding in 2022.