(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.
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.
Necat Altın
Chief Executive Officer, Zorlu Textile Group
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,
Sinan Ak
Chief Executive Officer, Zorlu Energy Group
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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. In 2012, he took on the role of CFO of Vestel Group of Companies, responsible for both domestic and international subsidiaries of Vestel. Since March 2024, Alp Dayı has been serving as the Head of Financial Affairs Group of Zorlu Holding.
Arzu Pişkinoğlu
Internal Control and Corporate Risk General Manager
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).
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.
Filiz Ova
Zorlu Performing Arts Center General Manager
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.
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).
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.
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.