Committees

Çağlar Göğüş

President (Chief Executive Officer – CEO)

Çağlar Göğüş earned his B.Sc. degree in Business Administration at Bilkent University in Turkey, and his MBA from the University of Florida. He began his professional career in 1996 as a Senior Analyst at Coopers & Lybrand (current PwC). In 2000, Following his tenure as Senior Analyst and consultant at Arthur Andersen and AT Kearney, he joined the Peppers & Rogers Group. Later becoming an international partner at Peppers & Rogers, he initially served as the General Manager overseeing after- sales services in all regions. Göğüş played an important role in Peppers & Rogers’ growth in the EMEA region and beyond. Through his consultancy work for over fifty major companies and regulatory authorities across a range of geographic areas, he has gained special expertise in strategic growth and transformation. He has attained vast experience over the years in the new economic order as well as in classic economics.

Göğüş joined the Doğan Group in 2015 as an independent board member for Hürriyet Gazetecilik. After holding this position for one year, he served for over two years as Hürriyet Gazetecilik’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). During his tenure, he oversaw important projects, including those involving digital transformation, efficiency, profitability, redefining of business processes and the designing of a corporate character for Hürriyet Emlak (Hürriyet Real Estate and Properties).

Bora Yalınay

Member (Chief Financial Officer - CFO)

Bora Yalınay has over 20 years of experience in international audit companies, and local and international public companies. His areas of expertise include financial restructuring, investor and analyst relations, financing, public offerings, cost optimization, financial planning, and analysis.

Bora Yalınay graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Economics in 1997 Having begun his career in 1997 at the Istanbul offices of Deloitte auditing firm, he worked most recently as a senior manager. He worked at the Deloitte Canada offices between 2000 and 2002.

Following his auditing experience of over a decade, and a Yaysat financial control experience of 1 year, he continued his career as the Group Financial Audit General Manager with Yıldız Holding in 2009 He worked as the CFO of Ülker Bisküvi between 2010 and 2016 During the process that began with the financial restructuring of the company in 2010, he has carried out several acquisitions, company sales and merger projects, completed overseas financing projects of USD 1 billion, and led the secondary public offering process in 2013 He worked as the Vice President of Ülker Bisküvi in charge of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Pakistan operations between 2015 and 2016 During such time, he led a team of more than 200 finance professionals in six different geographies. He has also led the financial operations of the central procurement company of Yıldız Holding within the scope of his responsibilities with Ülker.

Bora Yalınay has worked as the CFO with the Gürallar Group, the six biggest glass producer in the world exporting over 130 countries, between 2016 and 2019, and has conducted the first overseas financing and overseas expansion projects of the Group.

Bora Yalınay holds a Certified Public Accountant certificate and speaks English fluently.

Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın

President

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Middle East Technical University, Faik Açıkalın began his banking career in 1987 as a management trainee at Interbank. He subsequently held various positions, including Internal Auditor, Relationship Manager, Branch Manager and Marketing Manager at Interbank, Marmarabank, Kentbank, Finansbank and Demirbank. In May 1998, he joined Dışbank— later renamed Fortis following its acquisition by the eponymous international finance group—as Executive Vice President. Later that year, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) responsible for the coordination and communication between the Board of Directors and business units. He also assumed his position as a Member of the Credit Committee. In June 1999, Açıkalın was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of the Board of Directors. In December 2000, he became CEO of Dışbank. Following the acquisition of the majority shares of Dışbank by Fortis in July 2005, he continued to serve as CEO of the bank after it was renamed Fortisbank. Within that period he worked at international management of Fortis. In October 2007, he resigned from his duties at Fortisbank and became CEO of Doğan Gazetecilik. In April 2009, Açıkalın was appointed Executive Director of Yapı Kredi’s Board of Directors and was also appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Serving as Yapı Kredi’s CEO since May 2009, in addition to his current role, Açıkalın was also appointed as CEO of Koç Financial Services in 2010 Furthermore, in August 2011, Açıkalın became the President of Koç Holding’s Banking and Insurance Group. Açıkalın also still serves as Chairman of Yapı Kredi Malta, Yapı Kredi Invest, Yapı Kredi Leasing, Yapı Kredi Factoring, Yapı Kredi Bank Nederland NV, Yapı Kredi Bank Azerbaijan, Yapı Kredi Bank Moscow, Yapı Kredi Koray Real Estate Investment Trust, and Koç Finansman A.Ş., and as Vice Chairman of Banque de Commerce et de Placements S.A. and Allianz Yaşam ve Emeklilik and as Director of the Banks Association of Turkey. At the end of 2017, Açıkalın left his duties at Koç Holding, YKB and its subsidiaries. Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın has been serving as an Independent Board Member on Doğan Holding's Board of Directors since March 30th, 2018.

Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın.

Ali Fuat Erbil

Member

After having graduated from the Middle East Technical University Department of Computer Engineering in 1990, Ali Fuat Erbil earned his MBA from Bilkent University between 1990 and 1992. He started his business life and banking career as a Management Associate with Interbank in 1992, and worked at various branches as a corporate banking customer representative until 1995. In the meantime, Erbil started working on his PhD in Banking and Finance from Istanbul Technical University, and was awarded the title Doctor in 1998.

Until mid-1997, he was the Head of the Research Department at Inter Investment, upon which his career of 23 years with Garanti Bank started. He was first the Department Head for Alternative Distribution Channels with his main responsibility being the launch of Internet banking. In April 1999, he was promoted as the Deputy General Manager. Serving Garanti Bank as the Deputy General Manager for 16 years, he worked in various areas across the bank during this time. Some of these areas include Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Digital Banking, Financial Institutions, Mortgage, and Human Resources.

As of 2015, Erbil started serving as the Board Member and the General Manager at Garanti Bank during which time he also served as the Chairman for the institutions which were subsidiaries of the Bank. Some of these subsidiaries include Garanti Bank International (Netherlands), Garanti Bank Romania, Garanti Leasing, Garanti Pension and Life, Garanti Factoring, Garanti Investment, Garanti Payment Systems, and Garanti Technology. In September 2019, he has left his duties at Garanti Bank and its subsidiaries.

Ali Fuat Erbil is the Global Advisory Board Member of C2FO, an American fintech company, and he is a board member of Akbank AG (Germany).

Ali Fuat Erbil was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Ali Fuat Erbil.

Vedat Mungan

Member (Strategic Planning, Business Development and Business Management)

Born in 1970, Vedat Mungan has graduated from the Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Business Management, of Istanbul Technical University in 1992, upon which he completed his Executive MBA Program with the Manchester Business School and IBU Joint Programme.

Having started his banking career in 1993 at the Garanti Bank System and Organization Department, Mungan went on to work with İktisat Bankası T.A.Ş. in 1994 as Corporate & Commercial Banking Officer, and he was appointed as the Corporate & Commercial Banking Manager in 1996. After working as the Head of the Corporate – Commercial Banking at Sümerbank A.Ş. Head Office in 1998, he started working with Finansbank A.Ş. in 1999 where he served at various levels of senior management, and has implemented significant successful projects as the Head of Corporate, Commercial, Investment Banking and Project Finance Business Lines. After having continued his career as the Assistant General Manager in charge of those business lines, his career changed its course in 2010, and he joined the Alfa International Construction & Contracting Group as the CEO and also performed as advisor to the Board of Directors of a Hospital Chain. Vedat Mungan joined the Doğan Şirketler Grubu Holding A.Ş. as the Vice President in charge of Strategic Planning and Business Management on May 5, 2017 and later became Member of Executive Committee (in charge of Strategy, Business Development & Management) of Doğan Holding on October 3, 2017.

Eren Sarıçoğlu

Member (Business Development and Business Management)

Having graduated from Boğaziçi University in 2000 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Sarıçoğlu completed his MBA at Columbia Business School in 2005. He started his career at McKinsey and Company in 2000 and assumed various roles until 2007. He joined - Carlyle Group Turkey, one of the largest private equities in the world, as Vice President and led many investment projects in various industries i.e. education, healthcare, energy, retail and infrastructure until 2015.

In 2016, Sarıçoğlu joined Istanbul Investment Groups as - Partner. Sarıçoğlu - became responsible for post-acquisition transformation programs at Dubai EMAAR Group as Senior Director in 2017. He has worked at Pera Capital as Partner between 2018-2020. He has joined Doğan Holding as Executive Committee Member responsible for Business Development and Business Management effective 2021.

Ayşegül İldeniz

President

Ayşegül İldeniz is a pioneer in innovation, technology transformation and future vision in Silicon Valley and Istanbul. Ayşegül İldeniz holds a degree in Business Administration from Bosphorus University and a Masters in Digital Communications Arts from San Francisco State University, upon which she joined global microprocessor giant Intel in 1998, and was first the General Manager for Turkey, following which she ran Intel’s Middle East, Turkey and Africa region, covering 67 countries, was the Member of the Board for Intel Europe, and served as the Deputy Global Head of the New Technologies Group at the Intel Headquarters at Silicon Valley. She joined in 2016 as the COO for Silver Spring Networks, a company traded in the New York stock market, and held half of the US smart energy market with more than 26 million subscribers; and transformed leading cities of the world like Chicago, Singapore, Paris, Copenhagen, and Dubai into smart cities.

In 2015, she was listed as one of the top 100 most creative person in business by Fast Company magazine, one of the most prestigious publications in the US, and is awarded as the third most influential Turkish woman by TOA (Turks of America) magazine, and in Turkey, she was selected “Best Woman IT Manager of the Year” in 2004 and “Best Woman Manager of the Year” in 2006 by Dünya Gazette. Currently, she is the chair of TÜSİAD Silicon Valley Network and serves on the board of Turkish Philanthropy Funds.

She serves on the boards of Eczacıbaşı Holding A.Ş., Zorlu Enerji A.Ş., Vestel Elektronik A.Ş. and Vestel Beyaz Eşya A.Ş. until 2018.

Ayşegül İldeniz was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Ayşegül İldeniz.

Ali Aydın Pandır

Member

After completing his education at Istanbul Technical University as a Mechanical Engineer, Ali Aydın Pandır started his professional business life at Koç Holding, where he worked between 1981 – 1989, having started as an engineer and an executive at its R&D and Otokar companies.

He joined General Motors in 1990, where he served at various positions, namely, Opel Turkey After Sales Manager until 1992, Germany Opel International After Sales Manager between 1992 and 1995, Business Development Manager at Singapore General Motors Asia Pacific Center between 1995 and 1998, General Manager at Shanghai General Motors between 1998 and 2000, General Manager at General Motors Overseas Distribution Corporation between 2000 and 2005, and Chairman at General Motors Indonesia between 2005 and 2006.

After having continued his career as the Tofaş CEO until 2012 and the Fiat Group Turkish Country Head until 2013, upon joining Fiat in 2006, he has joined the Erdemir Group in 2013, and served as the Chairman and the CEO of the Ereğli and İskenderun Iron and Steel Industry Co. until 2017.

He has been making investments in the education sector in addition to serving as management consultant, independent board member, and NGO board member at various institutions and entities since 2017.

Ali Aydın Pandır was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Ali Aydın Pandır.

Ali Fuat Erbil

President

After having graduated from the Middle East Technical University Department of Computer Engineering in 1990, Ali Fuat Erbil earned his MBA from Bilkent University between 1990 and 1992. He started his business life and banking career as a Management Associate with Interbank in 1992, and worked at various branches as a corporate banking customer representative until 1995. In the meantime, Erbil started working on his PhD in Banking and Finance from Istanbul Technical University, and was awarded the title Doctor in 1998.

Until mid-1997, he was the Head of the Research Department at Inter Investment, upon which his career of 23 years with Garanti Bank started. He was first the Department Head for Alternative Distribution Channels with his main responsibility being the launch of Internet banking. In April 1999, he was promoted as the Deputy General Manager. Serving Garanti Bank as the Deputy General Manager for 16 years, he worked in various areas across the bank during this time. Some of these areas include Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Digital Banking, Financial Institutions, Mortgage, and Human Resources.

As of 2015, Erbil started serving as the Board Member and the General Manager at Garanti Bank during which time he also served as the Chairman for the institutions which were subsidiaries of the Bank. Some of these subsidiaries include Garanti Bank International (Netherlands), Garanti Bank Romania, Garanti Leasing, Garanti Pension and Life, Garanti Factoring, Garanti Investment, Garanti Payment Systems, and Garanti Technology. In September 2019, he has left his duties at Garanti Bank and its subsidiaries.

Ali Fuat Erbil is the Global Advisory Board Member of C2FO, an American fintech company, and he is a board member of Akbank AG (Germany).

Ali Fuat Erbil was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Ali Fuat Erbil.

Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın

Member

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Middle East Technical University, Faik Açıkalın began his banking career in 1987 as a management trainee at Interbank. He subsequently held various positions, including Internal Auditor, Relationship Manager, Branch Manager and Marketing Manager at Interbank, Marmarabank, Kentbank, Finansbank and Demirbank. In May 1998, he joined Dışbank— later renamed Fortis following its acquisition by the eponymous international finance group—as Executive Vice President. Later that year, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) responsible for the coordination and communication between the Board of Directors and business units. He also assumed his position as a Member of the Credit Committee. In June 1999, Açıkalın was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of the Board of Directors. In December 2000, he became CEO of Dışbank. Following the acquisition of the majority shares of Dışbank by Fortis in July 2005, he continued to serve as CEO of the bank after it was renamed Fortisbank. Within that period he worked at international management of Fortis. In October 2007, he resigned from his duties at Fortisbank and became CEO of Doğan Gazetecilik. In April 2009, Açıkalın was appointed Executive Director of Yapı Kredi’s Board of Directors and was also appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Serving as Yapı Kredi’s CEO since May 2009, in addition to his current role, Açıkalın was also appointed as CEO of Koç Financial Services in 2010 Furthermore, in August 2011, Açıkalın became the President of Koç Holding’s Banking and Insurance Group. Açıkalın also still serves as Chairman of Yapı Kredi Malta, Yapı Kredi Invest, Yapı Kredi Leasing, Yapı Kredi Factoring, Yapı Kredi Bank Nederland NV, Yapı Kredi Bank Azerbaijan, Yapı Kredi Bank Moscow, Yapı Kredi Koray Real Estate Investment Trust, and Koç Finansman A.Ş., and as Vice Chairman of Banque de Commerce et de Placements S.A. and Allianz Yaşam ve Emeklilik and as Director of the Banks Association of Turkey. At the end of 2017, Açıkalın left his duties at Koç Holding, YKB and its subsidiaries. Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın has been serving as an Independent Board Member on Doğan Holding's Board of Directors since March 30th, 2018.

Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın was elected as an independent board member at the General Assembly Meeting on April 8, 2021. Click here for the statement of indepence of Hüseyin Faik Açıkalın.

Ahmet Toksoy

Member

Born in 1959 in Istanbul, Ahmet Toksoy was graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration, Finance Department in 1981 He worked as a Tax Inspector in the Ministry of Finance from 1984 to 1989 Following that, he began to work in Hürriyet Holding as a member of the Supervisory Board. He occupied the position of Deputy Director of Finance from 1990 to 1991 and Director of Finance from 1991 to 1995 in Hürriyet Newspaper. Then, he worked as a certified public accountant in Aktif Denetim Certified Public Accounting Company for 3 years.

He was assigned as the Group Head of Finance at Hurriyet Newspaper in 1998, which he continued for 11 years, and in early 2010, he took up the position of Head of Audit and Risk Management at Doğan Holding. In the course of that period, he held offices of Member and Chairman of Board in various companies of the conglomerate. Toksoy also worked as the Chairman of Board at Hürriyet Journalism and Printing Inc. during 2017-2018.

Toksoy left the offices of Doğan Holding Head of Finance and Executive Board Member which he held from September 2011 until the end of July 2019.

He was appointed as a Board Member of Doğan Holding in March 2019.

Bora Yalınay

Member

Bora Yalınay has over 20 years of experience in international audit companies, and local and international public companies. His areas of expertise include financial restructuring, investor and analyst relations, financing, public offerings, cost optimization, financial planning, and analysis. Bora Yalınay graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Economics in 1997. Having begun his career in 1997 at the Istanbul offices of Deloitte auditing firm, he worked most recently as a senior manager. He worked at the Deloitte Canada offices between 2000 and 2002. Following his auditing experience of over a decade, and a Yaysat financial control experience of 1 year, he continued his career as the Group Financial Audit General Manager with Yıldız Holding in 2009. He worked as the CFO of Ülker Bisküvi between 2010 and 2016. During the process that began with the financial restructuring of the company in 2010, he has carried out several acquisitions, company sales and merger projects, completed overseas financing projects of USD 1 billion, and led the secondary public offering process in 2013. He worked as the Vice President of Ülker Bisküvi in charge of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Pakistan operations between 2015 and 2016. During such time, he led a team of more than 200 finance professionals in six different geographies. He has also led the financial operations of the central procurement company of Yıldız Holding within the scope of his responsibilities with Ülker. Bora Yalınay has worked as the CFO with the Gürallar Group, the six biggest glass producer in the world exporting over 130 countries, between 2016 and 2019, and has conducted the first overseas financing and overseas expansion projects of the Group.

Bora Yalınay holds a Certified Public Accountant certificate and speaks English fluently. He has one son.

Bora Tezgüler

Member

A. Doğan Yalçındağ

Member

Aydın Doğan Yalçındağ graduated from the Koç High School in 2009 and received his bachelor’s degree in Economy and History from Brown University in the United States. He started his career as an Analyst in the Capital Markets and IPO Department at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on emerging markets. Subsequently, he returned to Turkey and held various positions at Doğan TV. Mr. Yalçındağ established Blu TV, the largest local streaming platform of Türkiye, in 2016 and served as the CEO for 7 years.

Mr. Yalçındağ has formed a Strategic Partnership with Warner Bross Discovery for Blu TV in 2021. In 2022, he established “Ortak”, a new generation investment platform.

Mr. Yalçındağ has been a member of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association) since 2016. He is also a Board Member at Doğan Yatırım Bankası and Kolektif House. Furthermore, he is the author of the book titled “Gençlik ve Uyum (Youth and Harmony)”.