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. Serving as CEO until June 2024 Yüngül, currently continues to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of Zorlu Holding since 2022.

Speaking fluent English and Italian, Ömer Yüngül 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 2002. After working at various levels at Interbank between 1990 and 1997 Köksal, started working as Deputy General Manager at Denizbank in 1997 and joined Vestel in 2002 as the Chief Financial Officer.
 
Köksal, who served as Zorlu Holding Financial Affairs Group President since 2012, was appointed as Zorlu Holding CEO in June 2024. Köksal who serves as Board Member at Zorlu Holding and many Group companies  including publicly listed companies such as Zorlu Energy, Vestel Elektronik and Vestel Beyaz Eşya, in addition to being Member of the Board of Directors of Togg.

(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.

Ayşegül İldeniz is a global technology leader driving innovation, technology, and future vision in Silicon Valley. İldeniz, who was recognized as one of the world’s top 100 most creative people by Fast Company (2015), has shaped the roadmap for many of the smart technologies we use today, working with international teams driven by a passion for achieving the impossible. As the World Vice President of the New Technologies Group at global microprocessor giant Intel, İldeniz developed numerous award-winning products in smart technologies featuring artificial intelligence. Before this role, İldeniz served as the President of Intel’s 67-country Türkiye, Middle East, and Africa Region and was also a member of the European Board of Directors. In 2016, İldeniz became the COO of Silver Spring Networks, a New York-listed company that dominated half of the U.S. smart energy market. During her tenure, she implemented smart city programs in cities like Chicago, Singapore, Paris, Copenhagen, and Dubai, before successfully completing the exit of the company in 2018. İldeniz is a trailblazer in driving technology transformation, smart future initiatives, and innovation policies within civil society. She serves as the President of the TÜSİAD Silicon Valley Network, is a 2010 Eisenhower Fellow, and sits on the Board of Directors of Turkish Philanthropy Funds. She serves as an independent board member at Vestel, Doğan Holding, and Pegasus Airlines, and is also an entrepreneur and consultant based in Silicon Valley. As of 2024, Ayşegül İldeniz has also taken on the role of Board Member at Zorlu Holding.

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.

(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.

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.

(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).

A graduate of Robert College, Melih Araz received his bachelor’s degree from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, in 1972. He completed his MBA at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University in 1975, where he was a USAID/TEV scholar. He also attended an “Executive Management Program” at Harvard Business School in 1988. Starting his career in finance and banking at Citibank N.A.’s office in Türkiye in 1977, Mr. Araz served in executive positions at the bank’s Istanbul, Bahrain, Athens and New York offices and assumed key responsibilities in the establishment and expansion of Citibank’s operations in Türkiye. Melih Araz later served as the CEO/General Manager at Interbank AŞ, a Çukurova Holding affiliate, for eight years where he played a leading role in elevating Interbank to a respected and pioneering position in corporate and investment banking in Türkiye. After leaving Interbank, Mr. Araz worked as a consultant in various major projects and served as an Independent Board Member at a number of companies including Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Üretim AŞ (2008-2013 and 2018-2020), Enka İnşaat ve Sanayi AŞ (2012-2018), Vestel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ (2018-2024) and Vestel Beyaz Eşya Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ (2018-2024). Mr. Araz still assumes important duties at Ata Group. Mr. Araz also sits on the Boards of Ata Yatırım Menkul Kıymetler AŞ, Ata Gayrimenkul Yatırım Ortaklığı AŞ, TFI Gıda Yatırımları AŞ, Burger King China JV Ltd., İzmir Enternasyonel Otelcilik AŞ and Entegre Harç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ. In 2024, Melih Araz assumed the position of Independent Board Member at Zorlu Yenilenebilir Enerji.

Graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration in 1998, Koçer completed his MBA at Ball State University Miller College of Business, Indiana in 2000. He received his PhD degree from Istanbul University in 2005 with a dissertation on board structures and functions of companies listed at Borsa Istanbul.
After his academic career he worked for a major law firm and financial investment group. In 2013, he joined the Aspen Family Business Group, a US-based consortium of thought leaders and experts in the family business field with decades of local and international experience.
Between 2015 and 2020, he undertook the Local Corporate Governance Expert role in an international consortium led by Nestor Advisors, which advised the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) in designing the new Corporate Governance Reporting Framework in the country on behalf of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”).

Burak Koçer has served as an Independent Board Member at Bosch Fren Sistemleri A.Ş. (2012 - 2018), Federal-Mogul Izmit Piston ve Pim Uretim Tesisleri A.Ş. (2012 and 2018), and Alarko Holding A.Ş. (2020 – 2022).  After his role as the Head of the Chairperson’s Office (2018 – 2021) and Deputy Chairperson (2021 – 2022) at Özgörkey Holding A.Ş before joining Zorlu Holding.
Burak Koçer holds IFC Corporate Governance Trainer Certificate and he authored two books and various articles in the field of corporate governance and families in business.

He is a Board Member at Corporate Governance Association of Turkey and speaks English, Greek and German.

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.