Corporate Governance

 

Ahmet Akça - Chairman of the Board and Independent Board Member*

Ahmet Akça was appointed as an independent member to the Turkcell Board of Directors by Capital Markets Board in March 2013.  Since August 2013, he has been serving as the Chairman of the Turkcell Board of Directors. From 1981 to 1988, Mr. Akça served as a Foreign Trade Manager in two reputable companies in glass and food industry. In 1988, he became the CEO of an international trade company, a position he held until 1992. He later started his own business, Akça Lojistik Hizmetleri ve Tic. A.Ş. and Tedarik Lojistik Hizmetleri A.Ş. which he still runs as the Chairman. Mr. Akça also serves as an independent member at the Board of Directors at BİM A.Ş. since May 2018. Mr. Akça studied Mathematics at Middle East Technical University and Sociology at Istanbul University for a certain period, and graduated from the Department of Economics at Bursa Economics and Commercial Sciences Academy. 

 

Atilla Koç - Independent Board Member*

Atilla Koç was appointed to the Board of Directors by Capital Markets Board decision. Having worked as an Undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior, and as Chief of Police in Konya, he served as the District Governor of the Ulubey, Nusaybin and Bayındır districts, and as the Governor of Siirt and Giresun provinces. He has also been the Prime Minister’s Undersecretary, the General Secretary of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, and the Central Governor. Then, Mr. Koç served as AKP Aydın Deputy in the 22^nd and 23^rd period of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and as Minister of Culture and Tourism in the 59^th Government. He graduated from Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Science.

 

Mehmet Hilmi Güler - Independent Board Member*

Mehmet Hilmi Güler was appointed to the Board of Directors by Capital Markets Board decision. He formerly worked as a Project Engineer and Group Chairman at TUSAŞ Aerospace Industries. Mr. Güler also served as Vice President and Board Member of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK), as Chairman and General Manager of the Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK), as the General Manager and Chairman of Etibank, as the Chief Undersecretary to the Prime Minister, and as Board Member and Executive Director at ERDEMİR and İGDAŞ. Mr. Güler also served as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the 58^th, 59^th and 60^th Governments. Mr. Güler graduated from Middle East Technical University’s Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering where he obtained his Master’s and Doctorate degrees. 

 

Bülent Aksu - Board Member

Bülent Aksu has 22 years of managerial experience in finance, accounting, tax and management fields in various sectors including telecommunications, energy, petrochemicals, textiles and audit. His professional career began at Kuveyt Türk's Inspection Board as an Auditor, and then took office at Çalık Holding in 2003 to serve as Finance Manager and Group Finance Director, respectively. In 2008 and 2012 he served as CFO and Board Member at Akfel Group. Mr. Aksu worked as CFO for Azerbaijani National Oil and Gas Company's (SOCAR) subsidiaries Petkim Petrokimya Holding A.Ş. and STAR Rafineri A.Ş. respectively between 2012 and 2016. Bulent Aksu executed many Merger&Acquisitions in various industries, and actively ran financial transactions such as project financing and bond issuance in international and domestic markets. He led the conclusion of the financing agreement for the USD 3.3 billion and 18 years maturity financing deal signed with 23 local and international financial institutions for STAR Rafineri, one of the top industrial investments of our country. This loan agreement was the top project financing transaction ever made in Turkey in terms of the total sum and the term. In addition, it became the largest financing transaction in Europe for the year 2014. Bulent Aksu served as CFO of Turkcell between July 20, 2016 and July 17, 2018. In addition to international practices in balance sheet and FX exposure management, he made great contributions to Turkcell with his innovative solutions for investments financing. For the first time, it has strengthened and leading Turkcell’s position in local and international capital markets by issuing Asset Backed Securities (VDMK), financing bills, lease certificates and Eurobonds. He served as Board Member of Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. between November 2018 - March 2019. Mr. Aksu has taken office as Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Treasury and Finance as of 3rd of August, 2018. Bulent Aksu was appointed to the Turkcell Board of Directors on March 7, 2019. On May 13, 2019 he was appointed as the Chairman of Board of Directors of Turk Eximbank. Between 2016 and 2018, Mr. Aksu was voted among the top 50 most influential CFOs in Turkey by the magazine Fortune Turkey. Bulent Aksu graduated from Business Administration (English) Department of Istanbul University in 1996.

 

Hüseyin Aydın - Board Member

Hüseyin Aydın graduated from the Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences (Faculty of Economics) in 1981. He began his career as an Assistant Inspector at Ziraat Bank and served as a Director in various departments at Ziraat Bank until 27 March 2003. After working as an Executive Board member at Halkbank, as a Board member at Pamukbank and as Deputy Chairman at Ziraat Bank, Mr. Aydın worked as the General Manager and Board Member at Halkbank between 31 May 2005 and 14 July 2011. Having joined Ziraat Bank as the CEO on 15 July 2011, Mr. Aydın also serves as the Chairman of the Banks Association of Turkey and Board Member of Turkiye Wealth Fund Management Co. Huseyin Aydin, was appointed to the Board of Directors on March 8, 2019.

 

Ingrid Maria Stenmark - Board Member

Ingrid Maria Stenmark holds a Master of law from the University of Stockholm. Since joining Telia Company in 1994, Ms. Stenmark has held a number of senior positions in the Group, including Head of Group Regulatory Affairs, acting General Counsel, and responsible for the associates Turkcell and MegaFon. She is currently the Senior Vice President and Head of CEO Office, Strategy & Combined Assurance. She is responsible for Group Strategy, Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics and Compliance and also overseeing Internal Audit at Telia Company. In addition, she has the responsibility for the associate operations in Turkcell and Latvia. Ingrid Maria Stenmark was appointed to the Board of Directors by the General Assembly decision on March 29, 2018.

  

Mustafa Kıral - Board Member

Mustafa Kıral received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from University of California at Berkeley. During his career, he served in Altimo, responsible for overseeing mergers and acquisitions. He has advised on some of the company’s key deals in recent years. He also has served in various offices of McKinsey & Company. Prior to McKinsey, Mr. Kıral was a market maker in the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco, trading technology options. He is currently a Senior Partner at LetterOne Technology in London, UK. Mustafa Kıral was appointed to the Board of Directors by the General Assembly decision in 2018.

* The board members who were appointed by the Capital Markets Board as “independent board members” pursuant to Article 17, second paragraph, of the Capital Markets Law No.6362. The CMB decision was dated March 11, 2013.