Advisory Board of the Department of International Trade and Business

Gökhan BİLGİNER

Born in 1983 in Çankaya, Ankara, Gökhan Bilginer attended Bahçelievler Primary School and completed his secondary and high school education at Bahçelievler Deneme High School. He graduated from Bilkent University with a bachelor's degree in Economics in 2006 and a master's degree in International Relations and Public Policy, also from Bilkent University, in 2008. He began his career in 2008 as a Management Trainee (MT) at Tekstilbank in Istanbul. In 2009, he left his position as Corporate Banking Specialist at Tekstilbank's Ankara Branch to complete his military service in Balıkesir. In 2010, after completing his short-term military service in İzmir, he started working as Assistant Internal Audit Specialist at SANKO Holding's Audit and Reorganization Coordination Office. Still serving as Internal Audit Manager in the same department, Bilginer carries out financial and operational audits in Türkiye and abroad, as well as work on reorganization activities, special investigations, company valuations, financial analysis, data room management and due diligence. In 2021, he received his master's degree from the Executive MBA program at Koç University. Attaching great importance to lifelong learning, Bilginer is currently a student in the Computer Programming (associate degree) program at Marmara University, the Justice (associate degree) program at Ankara University and the Occupational Health and Safety (bachelor's degree) program at Istanbul University. He is involved in amateur theater as a member of the Koç Alumni Theater Group, founded by Koç University alumni.

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Senem YILDIZ

One of the names shaping the field of social impact, Sanem Yıldız completed a double major in Business Administration (English) and Economics at Bahçeşehir University with a full scholarship, graduating first in her class, and then completed her master's degree in Strategic Marketing and Brand Management, again ranking first. She is pursuing her PhD in Advertising and Public Relations. She continues her career as General Manager and Partner of Askıda Ne Var & Kampüste Ne Var, Türkiye's largest social enterprises, which touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of university students every year. As a part-time lecturer at Bahçeşehir University, she teaches social marketing (sustainability and social impact-focused marketing) in graduate programs and continues to serve as a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of International Trade and Business.

She continues her work in many different areas, including serving as a Board Member of the Boğaziçi University Social Media Research Center, an official authority that examines the social, cultural and economic impacts of social media; Project Development Advisor and "Social Brand & Social Leadership" columnist at Forbes Türkiye, one of the world's most prestigious media authorities; Member of the Vision Board of TurkishWIN, an international women's network in the field of social inclusion and gender equality; and Ambassador of the international Million Women Mentors Program, which touches the lives of one million women.

Providing strategic consultancy in areas such as youth communication, entrepreneurship, social branding and leadership, brand value creation, sustainable marketing, value-based marketing, social inclusion and gender equality, and the recipient of numerous awards in "social entrepreneurship," Yıldız takes part in dozens of major events every year as a speaker, trainer and jury member.

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Mutlu YİĞİT

After graduating from the Department of Business Administration at Bahçeşehir University in 2017, Mutlu Yiğit specialized in auditing over the five years until 2022 by taking part in the audits of companies from many sectors in the audit department of PwC, building a career at PwC that progressed from assistant to audit manager. As of the end of 2022, he moved into internal audit and currently leads the Profit Protection department at adidas Türkiye, continuing his career in a structure that reports directly to the global organization. As of November 2023, he has also earned the right to the title of Certified Public Accountant.

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Ceylan ÖZMEN

Ceylan Özmen graduated in Industrial Engineering from Galatasaray University and completed her master's degree in Marketing and Consumer Insight at Nanyang Business School. In a career of more than 20 years that began at Unilever in 2003, she held key positions in product, brand and marketing management at national and global companies such as 3M, ETİ, Herbalife and Stanley Black & Decker; at Stanley Black & Decker, after Türkiye, she was responsible for the integrated marketing activities of the Dewalt brand in emerging markets covering South America, the Middle East and China. At Tavuk Dünyası, which she joined in 2020 as Marketing Director, she has been serving as Deputy General Manager responsible for Marketing since 2023.

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Ömer Barbaros Yiş graduated from Koç University with a double major in Business Administration and Economics. He then received his master's degree and PhD qualification in Economic Analysis from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. After his academic experience, he began his business career at Turkcell and worked in various marketing positions. He then provided management consultancy in the telecommunications sector in more than 30 countries at the strategic consultancy firm Peppers & Rogers. He joined Türk Telekom in 2013 and served as Marketing Director until 2017. In 2017, he rejoined Turkcell and worked for one year as Director of Strategic Marketing and Corporate Customers Revenue Management; from December 2018, he served as Turkcell's Deputy General Manager responsible for Marketing. Between May 2021 and November 2024, he served as General Manager responsible for E-Commerce at LC Waikiki. Having joined Karaca in December 2024, Yiş continues his professional career as "General Manager of Karaca International."

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Cihan GÜLMEZ

Born in Ankara in 1981, L. Cihan GÜLMEZ graduated from Malatya Science High School in 1998 and then completed the Department of Economics (English) at Istanbul University. In 2008, he ranked among the top 200 in the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) and, in the same year, succeeded in the written and oral examinations for Assistant Inspector at the Prime Ministry and began working at the Prime Ministry Inspection Board. During his tenure as Prime Ministry Inspector, he carried out financial and administrative audits at many public institutions and banks. He also attended many meetings and training programs at the European Union, OECD, World Bank and United Nations, representing the Republic of Türkiye. Leaving his position at the Prime Ministry in 2016, L. Cihan GÜLMEZ started working at Çalık Holding Inc. as Industrial Relations and Legislation Manager within the Directorate of Human Resources. In January 2020, he took part in establishing the Legislation and Compliance Department at Çalık Holding and continued as Legislation and Compliance Manager. In June 2022, he began serving as Compliance Group Manager, coordinating many matters, primarily compliance, ethics and personal data protection, across the Holding and Group Companies, a position he still holds.

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