TAIDER 6th National Family Business Summit

Ali SABANCI

Patrick ODIER

Patrick Odier has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd. since January 1st, 2014, and he has been Senior Managing Partner of the Lombard Odier Group since July 1st, 2008. 

He joined the Lombard Odier Group in 1982 and completed his training in Zurich, New York, and Montreal, before becoming a Managing Partner in 1986. He holds an economics degree from the University of Geneva and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

Patrick Odier was Chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association from September 2009 to September 2016. He is member of the Board and Board Committee of economiesuisse (Swiss Business Federation). He is also a board member of several Swiss and international academic institutions and philanthropic organisations.

Dr. Begüm AKIŞ

Banu AKSOY TARAKÇIOĞLU

Davut DOĞAN

Mr. Davut Doğan, born in Biga, Çanakkale in 1955; a business angel, is Founder of Dogtas Furniture Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Doğanlar Investment Holding. Doganlar Investment Holding owns Dogtas and Kelebek furniture brands while being an active group of companies in contstruction, retail and food sector.

Mr. Dogan holds Economics diploma from Anadolu University in Turkey and he began his career as government officer. By the end of 1986 he has resigned from his government job and set up his own company. In 1987, he heads Doğtaş Furniture Company with his 5 brothers, and the year after he started his own factory of manufacturing furniture.

In 1992, he found the Association of Young Businessmen in Biga/BIGIAD and he was the chairman for 8 years.
He was President for 9 years in the Chamber of Industry of Turkey/ TSO.
He has published his first book “İzdüşümü/ Projection” in 1997 and the second one in 2002 which is “İzlenimler/ Impressions”. His third book, which is telling his experiences in business life, “İŞ’TE TECRÜBELERİM” has been published in 2016.

·He was the finalist of Turkey in 2005 for the World Entrepreneurship Competition.

In 2008, he was appointed as the most efficient businessmen by the Association of National Productivity.
In 2011, he was elected as Entrepreneur of the Year, by ODTU Young Entrepreneurs Association.
Between the years of 2014 and 2017, he was selected within the most efficient businessmen of Anatolia by the magazine of Ekonomist.
In 2016, he was selected within the first 50 Businessmen who influence the business life.
18 March University.
He is Founder President of MOSDER (Association of Turkish Furniture Manufacturer’s).
He was elected as President for 10 years for the furniture committee in The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
He is a member of the Executive Board of at MUDER (Association of Industry and Import of the Kitchen and Bathroom Furniture)
He is a member of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association) and DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board).

Mr. Davut Doğan, born in Biga, Çanakkale in 1955; a business angel, is Founder of Dogtas Furniture Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Doğanlar Investment Holding. Doganlar Investment Holding owns Dogtas and Kelebek furniture brands while being an active group of companies in contstruction, retail and food sector.

Mr. Dogan holds Economics diploma from Anadolu University in Turkey and he began his career as government officer. By the end of 1986 he has resigned from his government job and set up his own company. In 1987, he heads Doğtaş Furniture Company with his 5 brothers, and the year after he started his own factory of manufacturing furniture.

In 1992, he found the Association of Young Businessmen in Biga/BIGIAD and he was the chairman for 8 years.
He was President for 9 years in the Chamber of Industry of Turkey/ TSO.
He has published his first book “İzdüşümü/ Projection” in 1997 and the second one in 2002 which is “İzlenimler/ Impressions”. His third book, which is telling his experiences in business life, “İŞ’TE TECRÜBELERİM” has been published in 2016.

·He was the finalist of Turkey in 2005 for the World Entrepreneurship Competition.

In 2008, he was appointed as the most efficient businessmen by the Association of National Productivity.
In 2011, he was elected as Entrepreneur of the Year, by ODTU Young Entrepreneurs Association.
Between the years of 2014 and 2017, he was selected within the most efficient businessmen of Anatolia by the magazine of Ekonomist.
In 2016, he was selected within the first 50 Businessmen who influence the business life.
18 March University.
He is Founder President of MOSDER (Association of Turkish Furniture Manufacturer’s).
He was elected as President for 10 years for the furniture committee in The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
He is a member of the Executive Board of at MUDER (Association of Industry and Import of the Kitchen and Bathroom Furniture)
He is a member of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association) and DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board).

Raffi PORTAKAL

Kaan KİZİROĞLU

Mithat YENİGÜN

Mithat Yenigün was born in 1947 in Mardin/Midyat. In 1964, he graduated from the Istanbul Haydarpaşa High School. Thereafter, he completed his undergraduate and post-graduate studies in 1969 at the Civil Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University.

Having started his professional career as a Control Engineer at the Turkish Ministry of Public Works in 1969, he founded his first company named “Mithat Yenigün” in 1973. In 1982, Mr. Yenigun founded “Yenigün Construction Industry and Trade Inc.”, which has accomplished several major construction projects in national and international arena.

Mr. Yenigun entered tourism sector by investing into the “Sentido Zeynep Golf Resort” – a 5-star hotel with 1200 bed capacity located in Antalya/Belek. In the meantime, Yenigün Inc. has proved its success by ranking among the world’s largest international contracting companies.

Acting as the Chairman of the Board of “Yenigün Construction Industry and Trade Inc”, which continues to grow steadily through investments in energy, tourism, production of building materials, and consultancy along with the construction sector, Mr Yenigün also takes part in the executive boards of the following companies;

“Forza Tourism, AGM Strategic Solutions, Yenigün Polska, Yenigün Energy, Nehroz Tourism, Diyartuğ Brick & Tile, and Metok Construction”.

Having a good command of the English language, Mr. Yenigün is currently running several positions in the fields of industry, tourism and sports.

Turkish Contractors Association (TCA), President
Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Vice President
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President of the Construction Sector Assembly  
Turkish Employers’ Association of Construction Industries (INTES) Member of the Supreme Advisory Council
Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSİAD), Member
Association of Real Estate and Real Estate Investment Companies (GYODER), Board Member
Mardin Educational Foundation (MARSEV), Board Member

Reşat MORAL

Cihan KOSİF

Cihan Kosif, born in 1981 in Ankara, completed his high school education in Collège du Léman International School in Switzerland. Then he went to the US for university education and studied management at Clark University and Berkeley College.

After his return to Turkey he began working in various departments (Mechanics workshop, Human Resources, Purchase Department, Used car) as delegate of the 2nd generation with Kosifler Group.

He has been general manager of Kosifler Oto Kavacık since 2017.

Cihan Kosif is married and has two daughters. Among his hobbies are tennis and sailing.

Mehmed EVYAP

Mehmed EVYAP, born in İstanbul in 1976, was graduated from Koc University Bachelor of Business Administration.

He started his working life in 1997 in Marketing Department of Evyap International Dış. Tic. A.Ş. and he became Project Manager in 2000 and undertook the management of Marketing, Turkey Sales and Finance departments as Executive Committee Member in 2002. He has been continuing his duty as Chief Executive Officer of Evyap Holding incorporating Evyap Soap, Evyap Malaysia, Evyap Egypt, Evyap Russia, Evyapport companies.

Yiğit GÖĞÜŞ

Born in 1982, after graduating from Adnan Menderes Anatolian High School, Yigit Gogus finished Economics at Koc University. He started his career in 2004 at Peppers & Rogers Group as a Business Analyst, completing projects in Kuwait, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. In 2006, he returned to Turkey to work as a Brand Manager for Reckitt Benckiser, joining family company Pelsan Lighting in 2009. In 2011 he became the Deputy General Manager of sales and since 2016 continues as the General Manager of the company.

Fluent in both Turkish and English, Gogus enjoys sailing, underwater photography and playing squash. 

Cengiz SOLAKOĞLU

Cengiz SOLAKOĞLU was born in Erzurum in 1943. He was graduated from İstanbul İktisadi ve Ticari İlimler Akademisi in 1964 and then joined Beko Ticaret as sales represantative in 1967.  He served as the General Manager of Beko Ticaret between 1977 and 1983 and Atılım A.Ş. between 1983 and 1991. 

In 1991, he was appointed as the Vice President of the Consumer Retail Group of Koç Holding and became the President of the Consumer Retail Group in 1994. In addition to this role, he served as the member of the Executive Committee of Koç Holding between 1996 and 1998. He was then appointed as the President of the Consumer Durables Group in 2002 and retired from this position in 2004 after 38 years of service at Koç Holding.

Cengiz SOLAKOĞLU served three terms as the Assembly Member of the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce and another three terms as the Assembly Member İstanbul Chamber of Industry. He also served two terms as the Board Member of İstanbul Chamber of Industry.

Cengiz SOLAKOĞLU is one of the founders of Türk Eğitim Gönüllüleri Vakfı which is an important NGO with the mission of improving the education quality of the primary and secondary school students by supporting their education after school hours. Mr. SOLAKOĞLU has been serving as the Board Member of the Foundation since its establishment and in 2004 he was awarded as the NGO Leader of the Year by the Economist Magazine in Turkey. In 2007, he was re-elected as the President of the Foundation.

After his retirement from Koç Holding, Mr. SOLAKOĞLU set up his own consulting company and has been serving as the board member and/or the consultant of many valuable family owned companies and assisting these companies for proper corporate governance and professional management transitions.

Mr. SOLAKOĞLU is married, has two children and three grandchildren.

Aslı Ece KUSEYRİ

Born in Antakya in 1982, Aslı Ece Kuseyri graduated from the Department of International Relations, Koç University in 2005. After receiving marketing training at Boston University, she served as Assistant Manager at Department of Marketing, Fortis Bank.

In 2006, she returned to the family business that she has already worked during summer holidays since her childhood; and started to work at Ozbugday Group, a group of companies operating in agricultural industry. As of 2006, she worked in several positions under Licence Management, International Customers Management, Foreign Trade, Purchasing and Brand Management.

Kuseyri, who was also one of the evaluators of 2017 TAIDER-Kuzey Yıldızı Project, leaded the renewal process of Ozbuğday Group's traditional management approach  and development of a corporate business model to a great extent. Kuseyri, the first female executive taking part in management team of Turkey's very first domestic seed company ProGen, continues to work on formation of management departments in the company and continuation of sustainability projects.

Kuseyri took an active role At the Board of Directors of the Hatay Entrepreneur Women's Association and Hatay Young Businessmen Association for many years. She speaks English, Italian and Spanish. Since 2017, Kuseyri also works as a professional Breath Coach besides her job at the company.

Ayşe ÜNLÜTÜRK

Born in Izmir to a family of garment and textile manufacturers, Ayşe has a BA in Fashion Management from the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London and later went on to study History of Design & Curatorial Studies at Parsons, The New School, in New York City. Currently living in London, she works for a high-street fashion brand. She plans to join her family business after having completed the necessary work period elsewhere as required by their family constitution. She's passionate about the sustainability movement and sustainable business strategies.

Dr. İzel Levi COŞKUN

Dr. Izel Levi Coskun, born in 1973, graduated from Istanbul University, Business Administration and studied MBA at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Dr. Coskun lectured entrepreneurship classes in Marmara University between 2004 and 2014. He obtained his PhD with his thesis on “Corporate Sustainability” at Marmara University. His professional life started in 1991 and he gained experience in accounting, audit, tax, consultancy and internal audit. Since 2010, he is the Managing Partner of Mazars Turkey, which is among the 5 largest accounting, audit, tax and consulting firms in Turkey. Dr. Coskun owns Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Capital Markets Board and Public Oversight Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority licenses. 

Dr. Izel Levi Coskun harmonized his experience in various sectors with two core values “Sustainability” and “Entrepreneurship”. At the same time, he keeps writing articles about “Sustainability” and “Entrepreneurship” for Harvard Business Review blog and other foremost business mags in Turkey.

Dr. Izel Levi Coskun is a member of Turkish Industry & Business Association (TUSIAD)and at the same time Head of the Steering Committee for TÜSİAD’s entrepreneurship project “These Young People Have the Potential, Union of Chambers of Certified Public Accountants of Turkey, Turkish Internal Auditors’ Association, Turkish Association of Accounting Experts, Endeavor, Keiretsu Forum, Buğday Association for Supporting Ecological Living, Gökçeada Volunteers Association, TAİDER Family Business Association, Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association, Ada Dostları Association and Transparency International Turkey.

M. Serdar KUZULOĞLU

In 1995, his career started as a journalist in an editorial service while he was working in the founding team at Posta. Until 1996, he was the editor of Science-Tech page.

In 1997, he took part in the founding team at Radikal as a technology editor. At that time he prepared a page that related only to the internet world for the first time and the page entitled “Sanal Alem” became an independent supplement distributed with newspaper in 1998.

He wrote articles at. net, PC Magazine, PC Life, Computerworld and PC World Magazine.

In 2004 he prepared and presented a program called “Technosohbet” at Technology Channel and in 2007 presented a program called “Bilişime Yön Verenler” at Business Channel.

In 2004, he continued to present a program entitled “Radyo Kozmos” that he used to present this program at Radio 92.3 in 2002. In 2005, this program which was the first Turkish podcast was awarded as “The Best Technology Radio Program” by Informatics Association of Turkey.

He set up and directed the websites of Fanatik, Radikal and Finansal Forum.

In 2007, as a Director of New Generation Services at Dogan TV Holding, he digitalized the content and enriched interactive services mainly at KanalD, Star, DSmart, Radyo D, Radyo Moda and all other TV channels and radios that belong to Dogan TV Holding.

In 2008, he established a content agency entitled MYK MEDYA that contained the most popular websites in the field such as Yahoyt.com, Televidyon.com, AlkislarlaYasiyorum.com Kaybolduk.biz.

On 26th August 2009, he launched the Turkey Pirate Party movement.

Currently, M. Serdar Kuzuloğlu prepares a weekly column at Radikal about world trends and he presents “Sosyal Medya” which is the Turkey’s longest-running program in the field of social media at TRT, in addition to these he works as a consultant for various companies engaged in digital strategies.

In addition to many reputable conferences and institutions, particularly in the event TEDx, he participates as a speaker in the event related to the digital culture,technology and its effects on our life, digital trends and issues and new generation As a co-founder of New Media Certificate Program at Kadir Has University, Mr.Kuzuloglu also teaches in his areas of expertise in many other universities.

Maya PORTAKAL BİTARGİL

Polat GÜLMAN

Ece KARABONCUK

Dr. Tayfun ÇALKAVUR

Tayfun Çalkavur is in training and consulting sector for 15 years. After he completed his bachelor’s degree in Law Faculty of Istanbul University, he continued his master’s degree in International Business Administration. While he is working on his PhD in Social Sciences Institute of Istanbul University, he attended some programs in Pennysilvania and Drexel University in USA.  He completed his PhD on Public Law.

After he worked as a research assistant for a while, he started working in Rota Inc. and run many training and consultancy projects as a trainer and project manager.  Then with his associates, experienced in the same sector, he founded TEM Management Development Services Inc in 1999. In addition to TEM Management Development Services Inc. he also founded TEMAS Search Selection and Human Resources Inc. He is still managing partner in his companies. Moreover he runs many training and consultancy projects of national and international companies as management consultant and project manager.

His articles were published in periodicals and newspapers. He is also giving lectures of Law in Istanbul Bilgi University as a guest lecturer. 

Tijen MERGEN

Tijen Mergen graduated from Bosphorus University, Department of Electrical Engineering with Master of Science degree. She began her professional career in 1982 at Apple Computer as a sales representative. She then worked at NCR Copr. For 13 years and held various management positions. Between 1994-1998, she was the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Finance Industry  at NCR Central and Eastern Europe region, covering 24 countries. 

Between the years 1998-2003 she was the General Manager of Bilkom A.Ş. (Apple Turkey). During her Bilkom years, she received an award from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) for the project “iCan”, which promoted  to develop movies and music among the universitiy students by using apple technology. She played a key role  in the Koc Group Co takeover of Bilkom from Komili Group Co. In 2000, Mergen recieved the “Business Woman of the Year 2000” award from Dünya Newspaper.

Between the years 2003-2005 she produced and presented the television program, “Bilgi Vizyon”, for CNBCE, a program about the development of the global Technological sector.
 
Between 2004- 2013 she had been working for Dogan  Media Group which was the leading media Group in Turkey.  Between 2004 - 2010, she was the steering comitee member at Dogan Gazetecilik AS, as Chief Sales, Marketing and Coprorate Communication Officer . She was in charge of newpaper sales & marketing as well as the digital media and other web projects belong to the group. Between 2010 - 2012 she was working at Hurriyet Gazetecilik AS, as Chief Marketing Officer and Steering Commitee Member. In 2013, she was at Dogan Holding, working with top management to develop new businesses in  new  developing industries. Mergen was  also the member of board of directors of Doğan Gazetecilik between 2013-2017.

Since Oct 2013, she built her own company, TEK Girişim LTD  giving consultancy to support corporates to develop  and conduct social responsibility projects. At the same time she became the co-founder of Happiness at work Platform who gives consultancy, training, coaching and mentoring services to the corporates at all levels to increase the motivation and engagement  in the workplaces.

She is giving “Strategic Marketin and Branding”  courses to the graduate students at Bahçeşehir Üniversity for the last four years. She is also  one of the founders of KAGİDER, an NGO who promotes and supports women enterpreneurs and was the Board Member between 2009-2013.