Directors

Ezgi Akpınar graduated from Koç University, Economics and Business Administration in 2005. After doing her MA in Marketing at Tilburg University, Akpınar completed her PhD at Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management. She completed her doctoral studies at the Wharton Business School. After Vrije University and Koç University, she started working at Sabancı University in 2019. Akpınar has been the Director of Professional Graduate Programs at Sabancı University since September 2022.

Jacqueline Einer received her BA in Adult Education and her MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Technology, Sydney. She worked as an English language instructor at Istanbul Technical University for 9 years before joining the School of Languages at Sabanci University in 2000. Ms Einer worked as an instructor until 2009 when she took on the role of Program Coordinator. She was appointed Director of the School of Languages in September, 2012. Ms Einer was also one of the writers and editors of the course book series Beyond the Boundaries: English in an Academic Environment, which is the main course book series in use in the School of Languages.

He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Sabancı University, in Social and Political Sciences, and in History respectively. In 2014, he received his PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from Leiden University in the Netherlands and his dissertation is published as a book titled The Ottoman Crisis in Western Anatolia / Turkey’s Belle Époque and the Transition to a Modern Nation State by I.B. Tauris in 2016. He worked at Leiden University between 2009 – 2016 in the School of Middle Eastern Studies, the International Studies and the International Honours College at the Hague (LUC). He thought graduate and undergraduate level courses in the fields of history, area studies, political science and philosophy. Since 2016, he has been a faculty member in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. His research covers topics such as Economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, European-Ottoman encounters and diplomacy, personal histories and ego-documents of the Young Turks, history of migrations in the Ottoman Empire, history of socialisms and nationalisms in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, history of port-towns and port-cities in the Eastern Mediterranean, digital humanities and world history. He has done consultancy work for international organizations including UNESCO and The Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR). He has been a member of Middle East Studies Association (MESA), and The Society for Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies (GTOT) while currently fulfilling his duty as the Director of Foundations Development at Sabancı University.

Prof. Dr. Alpay Filiztekin is a faculty member of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He received his B.A. in Economics from Boğaziçi University in 1989 and his PhD in Economics from Boston College in 1994. He was a faculty member at Koç University between 1994-2000, at Sabancı University between 2000-2016, at Özyeğin University between 2016-2019. Prof. Filiztekin was also the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Sabancı University between 2013-2016. He was the Director of the Graduate School of Business and the Dean of the Faculty of Business at Özyeğin University.

Zeynep Gülru Göker received her undergraduate degree in Social and Political Sciences from Sabanci University (2003) and her Ph.D. in Political Science from the City University of New York Graduate Center (2011). Since 2021, she has been working as research faculty member at the Sabanci University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Between 2017-2021 she has worked as researcher at the Sabanci University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender). Previously, she has worked at the Koc University Gender and Women’s Studies (2013-2017) and the Koc University Migration Research Center (2012-2013) as post-doctoral researcher and instructed classes in the political science department. Her research and teaching focus on gender and politics, deliberative and participatory democracy, gender equality politics and care ethics. She has numerous publications in national and international academic journals and she has been leading, co-leading and participating in several research projects funded by the European Union, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey and as other international institutions.

Kamer Kaya received his PhD in 2009 from İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, Computer Science and Engineering Department with a dissertation on threshold cryptography. After graduation, Kaya worked at CERFACS in France as a postdoctoral researcher in the Parallel Algorithms Project. Kamer Kaya later joined the HPC Laboratory at the Ohio State University as a postdoctoral researcher in September 2011 and became a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics in December 2013. Working at Sabancı University since 2014, Kaya is the founder and manager of Dakik Yazılım Teknolojileri, a software company that has focused on R&D projects since 2018. Kaya has been the Director of the Center of Excellence in Data Analytics (VERİM) since October 2022.

Prof. Dr. Emre Erdem received his bachelor's degree in Physics from Ankara University in 1998, followed by a master's degree in Physics in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Leipzig University in 2006. His research interests include energy materials, electric vehicles, energy storage and harvesting, supercapacitor and battery design and testing, solid-state physics, materials science, photovoltaics, solar cells, thermoelectrics, lithium-ion batteries, spin dynamics, and piezoelectric nanowires.Before joining Sabancı University, Emre Erdem worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Darmstadt between 2006 and 2008 and at the University of Freiburg from 2008 to 2017. In 2017, he received his Habilitation in Physical Chemistry. He also conducted research as a Le Studium/Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Tours during 2017-2018. Joining Sabancı University as an Associate Professor in 2018, he has been working as a Professor of Physics since 2023. Between 2023 and 2028, he has been serving as a Mercator Fellow at Technische Universität Darmstadt for the FLAIR project. From 2020 to 2023, he was a recipient of the International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers (2232) under TÜBİTAK. Additionally, he was awarded the Marie Curie/Le Studium Fellowship during 2017-2018 under the European Union program at the University of Tours, France, and received the Eugen-Graetz Prize from the University of Freiburg in 2012. Prof. Erdem is also an active member of professional networks, serving as a panel member for the EU Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium (CERIC) and as a network member of the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA).

Buket Sönmez completed her undergraduate education at Dokuz Eylül University, Department of Business Administration in English in 1996. She started her career as a Portfolio Manager at Yapı Kredi Bank in 1996. Sönmez worked as a Senior Customer Relations Manager at Pamukbank between 2000 and 2004, and as a Branch Manager at Şekerbank between 2005 and 2007, and at Fortis Bank between 2007 and 2008. She continued her career as Marketing Manager at Creditwest A.Ş. between 2008 and 2009. She started working at IBM Global Services in 2009. She first worked as a Management Consultant in this institution in 2009 and was appointed to the Senior Management Consultant position in 2014, where she took part in transformation projects in the field of financial and mobile services as a leader. In 2016, she started to serve as the General Coordinator of the Teachers Network within the Sabancı University Education Reform Initiative since its establishment. Sönmez has been the Director of Sabancı University Education Reform Initiative since February 2024.

Professor Atılgan received his BA in Management from Boğaziçi University in 2003, his MS in Finance from University of Rochester in 2005 and his PhD in Finance from City University of New York in 2010. In the same year, he joined Sabancı Business School. In 2015 and 2021, he earned the titles of Associate Professor and Full Professor, respectively. He is also the director of Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) since 2018.

Professor Atılgan's research interests include equity returns, investment risk, funds, derivative products, ESG, and asset pricing in emerging markets. His research has been published in various academic journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Banking and Finance and Journal of Business & Economic Statistics among others. He has also co-authored a book on risks and returns of investing in hedge funds published by Academic Press.

Professor Atılgan teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on derivatives, behavioral finance, investments, and empirical asset pricing. His research has been awarded by the Science Academy and Turkish Academy of Science. He is also a CFA charterholder since 2015.
 

Prof. Dr. Senem Aydın Düzgit received her BA in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University in 1999, her MA in European Politics and Policy from London School of Economics and Political Science in 2000, and her PhD in Political Science from Vrije Universiteit Brussels in 2008. Her main research interests include identity, history, and discourse in the study of international politics, with an empirical focus on European and Turkish foreign policies.

Before joining Sabancı University, Senem Aydın-Düzgit worked as an Assistant Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University between 2008 and 2013 and as an Associate Professor between 2013 and 2016. Aydın-Düzgit started working as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of our university between 2016 and 2019 and has been a Professor of International Relations since 2019. She has also served as the Research and Academic Affairs Coordinator at the Istanbul Policy Center since 2016. Senem Aydın-Düzgit was based at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin as a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow in 2023-2024. She served as the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2024-2025.

Recipient of the Young Scientist Award by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (BAGEP) in 2014, Prof. Dr. Aydın-Düzgit was a member of the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Board of Directors. She is currently a non-resident fellow at the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University, a council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), and an academic advisory board member of the Institut für Europaische Politik.

Güler Alışık obtained her bachelor’ degree in Law from Ankara University in 1987. In 2016, she completed her graduate studies in International Trade at Ankara University. Between 1988 and 1995, she worked for the Koç Group as an associate lawyer, and from 1995 to 1998, she worked for the HSK company as a legal counsel. Between 1998 and 2000, she worked as a legal counsel at the Güreli accounting and international audit company. From 2000 to 2005, she worked as the vice chief legal counsel at Bayındır Holding, and from 2005 to 2011, as the chief legal counsel at Avivasa. From 2018, she worked as a legal counsel at Yeditepe University. Alışık is the Chief Legal Officer in Sabancı University since January 2022.

Ziya Alpay graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Civil Engineering in 1994. He worked as Assistant Secretary General at Bahçeşehir University between 2001 and 2004, General Manager at Uğur Bilgi Teknolojileri between 2004 and 2008, Secretary General at Bahçeşehir University between 2008 and 2018, Member of the Board of Trustees of Bahçeşehir University between 2018 and 2021, CEO at Malta American University between 2020 and 2022, and Managing Partner at his own firm, Digital Transformation Group, in 2022. Alpay has been the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative Director (CIO) of Sabancı University since November 2022.

She completed her BA in Radio and Television Department at Istanbul University, Faculty of Communications in 1994, her MA in 20th Century Art at the Cultural Studies Department of Goldsmiths University, London in 1995, and her PhD in Western Art and Contemporary Art at the Social Sciences Institute of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She worked as a reporter in the culture department of Cumhuriyet Newspaper between 1989 and 1994, as an editor in Yapı Kredi Publications Art Magazine and various art and literature books in 1996, and as a critic in the culture and arts page of Radikal Newspaper between 2005 and 2013.

She worked as a faculty member in the Foundations Education Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University between 1999 and 2020, as a part-time faculty member in the Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design program of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at our university between 2010 and 2020, and has been a full-time faculty member in the same program since 2020. She curated various exhibitions between 1999 and 2019. She is also a founding member of the Turkey Branch of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She was a member of the SSM Board of Directors between 2010 and 2013, and has been a member of the SSM Board of Directors since 2018. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Istanbul Biennial 2024-2027.

He received his BA in International Relations (1998) from İstanbul University, Faculty of Political Sciences and his master's degrees in European Law from Marmara University European Union Institute and in Information Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales. He joined Sabanci University in 2005. After several duties in the Information Center, he has been appointed as Director in May 2013. He has also been acting as a board member of Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS).

Mr. Bayırlı received his B.S.c degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, his master’s degree in Information and Telecommunication Systems from the John Hopkins University and MBA from Koç University. He had worked in textile industry between the years 2003 and 2011. He also took various management responsibilities in Koç University Facilities Management from 2012 to 2017. In addition, he has managed various revenue generated projects. Mr. Bayırlı joined Sabancı University as the Director of Business Development Unit in December 2017 and he is the Director of Institutional Partnerships and Alumni Relations Unit since February 2021.

Ms. Mutlu Bozkurt Besimzade received her B.A. degree in Business Administration from Boğaziçi University in 1992 and her Executive MBA degree from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2000. She started her career in Borusan Otomotiv as Sales Executive. From 1994 to 1997 she worked as Brand Manager at Wella Türkimya. She assumed the Business Unit Manager, Consumer & OTC Products position at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals between 1997 and 2000. She moved her career to Türknet to take the Deputy General Manager responsible for Marketing and Product Development position until 2001. From 2002 to 2008 she worked as Marketing Manager for Groupe SEB, a producer of small domestic appliances. Between 2009 and 2012, she assumed Industrial Marketing and Sales Director role at Unmaş, a member of Doruk Group. Within the same Group, she held the position of Deputy General Manager at Komşu Fırın and General Manager at Zeelandia Doruk in following years. She worked for Nurus as Head of Marketing and Business Development and then assumed the Marketing Director role at Özsüt until 2017. In the same year, she established a startup company, Beşiktepe Zeytincilik, and created her own brand. She joined Sabancı University as Marketing and Institutional Communications Director in November 2019.

Gonca Börekçi Baybaş completed her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1985, Börekçi Baybaş received her MBA degree from Middle East Technical University in 1988 and started her career as a management trainee in Deloitte in the same year. Börekçi Baybayş gave statistics, accounting, calculus courses at Bilkent University as an instructor between 1994 and 1998, and held administrative duties. Börekçi Baybaş continued her PhD program in the field of "Management and Organization" at Sabancı Business School. Gonca Börekçi Baybaş is coordinating and managing the work, process, resource, service, customer and program development activities of Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU since its establishment, Gonca Börekçi Baybaş became the Director of EDU in 2022 with her 20 years of experience in the field of professional development and executive training.

She obtained her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Istanbul University in 1994 and her post graduate degree in Marketing Management from Centro Internacional de Altos Estudios Agrarios Mediterràneos de Zaragoza in 1996, her master's degree in Marketing and Marketing Research from Navarra Public University in 1997. She worked as Assistant Manager at Finans Portföy Yönetimi A.Ş. between 1998 and 2002, and as Senior Assistant Manager at Citibank in 2002. She worked at our university as FASS Administrative Affairs Officer between 2002 and 2008, and FASS Administrative and Academic Affairs Manager between 2008 and 2021. She has been working as the Secretary General’s Office Group Manager since February 2021. She has been appointed as the Secretary General of the Museum, effective from August 1, 2023.

Talat Durgut obtained his bachelor’s degree (1997) and master’s degree (2000) in Mechanical Engineering from Yıldız Technical University. He started his PhD in Mechanical Engineering Energy program at the same university. He started his career in 1996 as a Site Engineer. In 1998, he started to work for Kale Aero Company as Process Development and Manufacturing Engineer in charge of domestic and international projects, and later on, as 6 Sigma Black Belt, Quality Control Leader, and Aerospace Projects Manager. Moving to GE Aviation in 2007 to work as Director of Advanced Manufacturing, Durgut led the team that developed and industrialized new technologies for global manufacturing facilities of aircraft engine parts. From 2016 to 2021, he worked for GE Renewable Energy as Global Director of Advanced Manufacturing and Brilliant Factory, and Global Director of Cost Engineering, respectively. From 2021, Talat Durgut worked as Global Director of Manufacturing Systems at GE Renewable Energy / LM Wind Power, where he built short- and long-term manufacturing strategies for wind turbine blades and led the development and implementation of new manufacturing technologies via artificial intelligence methods. Mr. Durgut is the Director of SUATT since January 2022.

Elif Gül completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at Boğaziçi University in 2006 and her master's degree in the Sabancı University Executive MBA program in 2020. She began her professional career in 2006 as a Human Resources Specialist at Hyundai Assan Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and joined the Kordsa Turkey team as a Human Resources Specialist in 2007. At Kordsa, she served as Turkey Human Resources Manager in 2012, Global Human Resources Manager in 2014, and was appointed Human Resources and Information Technologies Group Manager responsible for the EMEA Region in 2016. She has served as the People and Culture Director since 2022.

Bora Şekip Güray received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Hacettepe University (1997 and 2001) and earned qualification in his Ph.D. studies in Mechanical Engineering from Middle East Technical University. He worked as Research Assistant in Hacettepe University between 1997 and 1998. From 1998 to 2001, he worked as Project Engineer and Chief Engineer in the Turkish Electricity Generation and Transmission Co.. Mr. Güray served as Expert, Advisor to the Director General of Energy Affairs, Head of Division and Acting Head of Department in the General Directorate of Energy Affairs of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources from 2001 to 2011. Between 2011 and 2018, he worked as Energy Group Manager in Sabanci Holding. Bora Şekip Güray participated in various projects including energy planning and energy market operations, energy policy development and implementation, energy sector investments and asset management and worked in regional and international projects in the energy field. Güray joined Sabanci University as the Director of Research at IICEC in 2018 and has contributed to the increase of IICEC’s research base and public recognition as well as the development of the energy sector itself with activities on the implementation and presentation of various research reports, development of different research projects and enhancing engagement with public-industry-academia stakeholders. Mr. Güray is the Director of IICEC since December 2020.

His bachelor' s degree is in Mechanical Engineering, from the Yıldız Technical University, and his master' s degree is in Engineering Management from the Marmara University. 2000 - 2001 worked as a Service Engineer at Temsa / Komatsu Construction Machinery, 2002 - 2004 worked as a Mechanical Engineer at Foster Wheeler Bimaş, 2004 - 2011 worked as a Purchasing Specialist and later as an Internal Auditor at Brisa Bridgestone Sabancı Tyre A.Ş. 2011 March started his job at the Sabancı University.

Elçin Karana Sürücü received her bachelor's degree in International Relations from Ankara University in 2003, her master's degree in European Studies from Charles University in 2013, and her Ph.D. in International Relations from METU in 2020. Starting her career in the field of radio and television, Karana Sürücü worked as a newscaster, program producer and presenter between 2003 and 2005. From December 2005 to October 2009, she worked as a Political Affairs Specialist at the Ministry of National Defense, and during this period, she joined the European Security Academy as the representative of Turkey to the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) in Switzerland. She took part in the organization of the 26th International Security Conference held in Istanbul in 2009 by the Center for Strategic Decision Research, and ranked among the representatives of the Ministry in the 31st chapter of Turkey's EU membership negotiation process. During her term of office, she served in many foreign representation duties in the field of European security and defense cooperation. She worked as EVS Program Project Coordinator at Ondokuz Mayıs University Erasmus Office between June 2010 and September 2012, as International Students Office Coordinator at Middle East Technical University Student Affairs Department between February 2014 and November 2016, and as International Programs Office Director at TED University between November 2016 and August 2022. At TED University, she took part in different projects as a coordinator and manager, and taught in the TED University Migration Studies graduate program. Elçin Karana Sürücü has been the Student Resources Director at Sabancı University since April 2023.

He received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kocaeli University in 2008, his master's degree in Control Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2014, and his doctorate in Business Administration and Numerical Methods from Istanbul University in 2020. He worked as a Market Development Engineer at Karsan Otomotiv between 2010 and 2011, as a Business Development and Strategic Marketing Specialist at Tırsan Trailer Otomotiv between 2011 and 2012, as a Digital Transformation Leader at Anadolu Isuzu Otomotiv between 2012 and 2017, as a Senior Segment Marketing Manager at Koç Sistem between 2017 and 2019, and finally as a Digital Transformation and Project Office Manager at Otokoç Otomotiv between 2019 and 2024. Since August 28, 2024, he has been serving as the Digital Transformation Director at Sabancı University.

After graduating from the Department of Business Administration at Boğaziçi University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Erkan Şahinler began his professional career in external audit in 1990. Starting from 1993, he served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at companies affiliated with Sabancı Holding, including Marsa Kraft Foods International (1993-2005) and Gıdasa (2005-2008). After serving as Deputy General Manager at Exsa UK in 2008, he joined Aksigorta as Deputy General Manager of Finance in the same year. In 2016, he assumed responsibility for Claims and Operations, in addition to Finance. He served as Deputy General Manager of AvivaSA (Agesa) from 2017 to 2021, and as Group Financial Control Director of Sabancı Holding from 2021 to 2025. In addition to his current role at Sabancı Holding, Erkan Şahinler served on the Boards of Agesa, Aksigorta, Teknosa, and Temsa İş Makinaları. During the same period, he also served as General Manager of Exsa, Tursa, and AEO, and served on the Boards of these companies. Erkan Şahinler, who has held a CPA certificate since 1994 and has served on the TSB Investigation and Research Committees at various times, has been serving as Sabancı University's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since March 1, 2025.

Devrim Özaydın received his B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University in 1996. After working as Planning and Quality Assurance Engineer in Depa Pharmaceuticals in 1998, Mr. Özaydın started to work as Training Specialist in Dupont Performance Coatings in 1999. Joining Kordsa as Technical Engineer in June 2000, he worked as Yarn Production Manager between the years 2005 and 2010. In 2010, he started to work as Yarn Plant Manager and completed Sabancı University Turquality Executive Development Program in 2012. Mr. Özaydın worked as Yarn Production Director between July 2011 and February 2014, and was appointed to Kordsa Brazil as Manufacturing Director. Appointed as Thai Indo Kordsa Operations Director in November 2015, Mr. Özaydın has worked as Kordsa Global Technology Director between the dates July 2018 and August 2021. Mr. Özaydın is the CEO of SU-IMC since September 2021.

Mr. Mete Yücel received his BS in Computer Engineering from Hacettepe University in 1993. He started his career as a Software Engineer in 1992 and continued as an Information Systems Analyst at Phillip Morris Sabancı in 1996. He worked in the same company between 2000-2016 and took various management responsibilities in Operations Systems, Finance and HR Systems,Sales & Marketing Systems. He moved his career to IFS Türkiye to take Chief Operating Officer (COO) role between 2016 and 2020, and most recently he founded his own venture, DAR Digital. Mr. Yücel has been working as Information Technologies Director at Sabancı University since July 2022.