ABOUT THE MEET-UP

The Social Good Summit Istanbul meet-up is a one-day conference examining the impact of technology and new media on social good initiatives. Having speakers from Turkey and Europe and CIS region, Social Good Summit İstanbul meet-up unites a dynamic community of global leaders and grassroots activists to discuss solutions for the greatest challenges of our time. Our theme, #2030Now, asks the question, “What type of world do I want to live in by the year 2030?”

 
 

THE VENUE

 

THE VENUE

  • İstanbul Marriott Hotel Şişli Abide-i Hürriyet Cd No:142 34381 İstanbul - Türkiye
  • 90 (850) 2882 331

 

SPEAKERS 2016

We’ll be announcing new speakers as they confirm their participation.
Below photos are in alphabetical order by last names of speakers

  • Burak Aydın
    Burak Aydın
    Intel Turkey General Manager
  • Mert Başar
    Mert Başar
    Türk Telekom, Chief Marketing Officer
  • Elif Bilgin
    Elif Bilgin
    Inventor
  • Zeynep Gürhan Canlı
    Zeynep Gürhan Canlı
    Koç University
  • Karen Cirillo
    Karen Cirillo
    Communications Specialist, UNDP Eurasia
  • Mert Fırat
    Mert Fırat
    Actor, Founder of www.ihtiyacharitasi.org
  • Başak Çubukçu
    Başak Çubukçu
    Correspondent , Al Jazeera Türk
  • Hansın Doğan
    Hansın Doğan
    Private Sector Programme, UNDP in Turkey
  • Cenk Gönen
    Cenk Gönen
    Goal Keeper, Galatasaray FC
  • Barış Doğru
    Barış Doğru
    EKOIQ Dergisi Yayın Yönetmeni
  • Nicolas Douillet
    Nicolas Douillet
    Communications Advisor for Eurasia, UNDP
  • Hakan Dulkadiroğlu
    Hakan Dulkadiroğlu
    Ministry of Youth and Sport - General Manager a.i.
  • Nilay Erdem
    Nilay Erdem
    Facebook Head of Public Policy, Turkey
  • Bağış Erten
    Bağış Erten
    Socrates Sports Magazine
  • Ahmet Eti
    Ahmet Eti
    CEO, Sebit
  • Hatice Gökçe
    Hatice Gökçe
    Designer
  • Burcu Özdemir Kayımtu
    Burcu Özdemir Kayımtu
    TBWA Group Istanbul, CEO
  • Ercan Gümüş
    Ercan Gümüş
    Managing Partner at Cool Digital Solutions and founder of www.harcananzaman.com
  • Meral Güzel
    Meral Güzel
    Empower Women Regional Coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, UN Women
  • Tom Hannen
    Tom Hannen
    Executive Producer for Video, Financial Times
  • Murat Kansu
    Murat Kansu
    Microsoft Turkey – General Manager
  • Gülnür Karakuzu
    Gülnür Karakuzu
    Founder of Eğlence Sokağı Youtube Channel
  • Mehmet Karakuzu
    Mehmet Karakuzu
    Father of Gülnur Karakuzu
  • Şükrü Oktay Kılıç
    Şükrü Oktay Kılıç
    Editor, Al Jazeera Türk
  • Cenk Kıvılcım
    Cenk Kıvılcım
    General Manager - Cisco Turkey
  • Emre Kızılkaya
    Emre Kızılkaya
    Digital Content Coordinator at Hurriyet
  • Şölen Kipöz
    Şölen Kipöz
    Editor of the “Sustainable Fashion”
  • Alp Köksal
    Alp Köksal
    Khan Academy TR Advocate
  • Özgür Mehmet Kütküt
    Özgür Mehmet Kütküt
    Techsoup/Google4NP
  • Naomi Larsson
    Naomi Larsson
    Journalist - The Guardian
  • Suat Özçağdaş
    Suat Özçağdaş
    Co-founder, SIM
  • Ali Ercan Özgür
    Ali Ercan Özgür
    Founder of International Development Management (IDEMA) and www.harcananzaman.com
  • Kamal Malhotra
    Kamal Malhotra
    UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey
  • Elizabeth Mearns
    Elizabeth Mearns
    BBC Media Action
  • Mete Meleksoy
    Mete Meleksoy
    General Manager - Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey
  • Yusuf Omar
    Yusuf Omar
    Head of mobile journalism at Hindustan Times
  • Gülsin Onay
    Gülsin Onay
    Pianist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
  • Başak Yalvaç Özçağdaş
    Başak Yalvaç Özçağdaş
    Field and Volunteering Department Chief - TEMA Foundation
  • Bülent Özcan
    Bülent Özcan
    Ministry for EU Affairs - Director for Project Implementation
  • Uygar Özesmi
    Uygar Özesmi
    Founder of www.Good4Trust.org
  • Murad Tiryakioğlu
    Murad Tiryakioğlu
    Afyon Kocatepe University
  • Monica Prisacariu
    Monica Prisacariu
    Programme Officer for United Nations Volunteers
  • Ayşe Sabuncu
    Ayşe Sabuncu
    Co-Founder - Impact Hub Istanbul
  • Ozan Sakin
    Ozan Sakin
    Sofar Sounds İstanbul
  • Serdar Sayar
    Serdar Sayar
    General Manager of Hitachi Data Systems Turkey
  • Aysun Sayın
    Aysun Sayın
    Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Director of Boyner Grup
  • Serra Titiz
    Serra Titiz
    Mikado Consulting - Social Entrepreneurs
  • Saba Tümer
    Saba Tümer
    Broadcaster
  • Fatih Türkmenoğlu
    Fatih Türkmenoğlu
    MC, TV Journalist and Producer, Author
  • Faik Uyanık
    Faik Uyanık
    UNDP Communications Officer for Turkey
  • Selin Ünal
    Selin Ünal
    External Relations and Public Information Officer, UNHCR
  • Rastislav Vrbensky
    Rastislav Vrbensky
    UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub Manager
  • Duygu Yardımcı
    Duygu Yardımcı
    Ministry for EU Affairs
  • Deniz Yılmaz
    Deniz Yılmaz
    Originator of Koton Hand Work Project
Burak Aydın
Intel Turkey General Manager

Burak Aydın (b. 1975) finished his studies in Mechanical Engineering in Middle East Technical University in 1997. In 1999 he completed his Master’s studies in Business Administration but he had already started his business life in 1997 while he was working as a Network Assistant in the METU Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. In 2001 he worked as a consultant in various projects in Accenture offices in Germany and Austria.

In 2004 he returned to Turkey and worked as the Strategic Planning Advisor and Manager for Siemens Business Services. In 2006 after acquiring experience in both domestic and foreign markets, he joined the Intel Turkey family as Business Development Manager Responsible for Training and Small and Medium Size Enterprises Programs. In 2009 he was assigned as the Business Development Group Manager.

Burak Aydın carried out many important works in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, public and private sectors for the implementation of the innovative projects in Turkey. In addition to Turkey he played a prominent role in the preparation of strategies and work plans for the Middle East and Africa region. He is the General Manager of Intel Turkey since July, 2011. He is a board member of TUBISAD (Information Industry Association). Aydın, who also is a member of TUSIAD, is currently running the STEM working group within TUSIAD.

Mert Başar
Türk Telekom, Chief Marketing Officer

Working in the business world for 20 years, N. Mert Başar has started his caret as a product marketing manager at Compaq Company; and then assumed the following roles respectively; product marketing group manager, personal systems group manager and sales manager for large scale customers. Working as Sales and Marketing Manager at Hewlett Packard between 2002 and 2007, Başar then worked for Turkcell as Corporate Customers Marketing Director until 2013.

At Türk Telekom Group, he assumed the Chief Marketing Officer position at TTNET between 2013 and 2014. In 2014, he started to serve as Türk Telekom and TTNET Chief Consumer Marketing Officer, and he has been the Chief Corporate Marketing Officer of Türk Telekom, TTNET and Avea brands since 2015. Since the brand unification of Avea, TTNET and Türk Telekom under the single brand of “Türk Telekom” on January 2016, Mert Başar has been working as Türk Telekom Chief Corporate Marketing Officer.

A graduate of Kadıköy Anatolia High School and Business Administration Faculty at Istanbul University, Mert Başar completed Advanced Management Program (AMP) in IESE Barcelona. Mert Başar was ranked on the list of “50 CMO’s to Watch” in 2014 organized by Global Telecoms Business Magazine and also ranked among the “Most Successful Marketing Managers of the Year” list of Capital Magazine in 2013 and 2014.

Elif Bilgin
Inventor

Elif Bilgin is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University pursuing a double degree in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science.  She graduated from Koç High School in 2015. Along with her elementary and high school education, for 7 years she attended to BİLSEM, an institution for the gifted children, graduating in 2014, after successful completion of their Math and Biology programs.

In 2013, she represented Turkey at Google Science Fair with her project,  “Going Bananas! Using banana Peels in the Production of Bioplastic as a Replacement of Traditional Petroleum Based Plastic”. According to Google, thousands of students, aged 14-18 from 120 countries entered this competition and her project won 2 of the 5 grand prizes:

  • Scientific American Magazine’s “Science in Action” award for being  innovative, easy to put into action and reproducible in other communities.
  • Voter’s Choice award for being voted number 1 by the people all over the world

This success at the age of 16, draw a big attention from media all over the world. She’s been invited to speak at Google Zeitgeist America 2013, at Tedx Vienna, at Tedx İstanbul, at Turkish Exporters Assembly, at European Union Inovation Conference in Brussels, at the Technology Development Foundation Turkey’s Technology Awards Conference, at the Google for Education Conference in Austin, Texas.  She was invited to CERN in Geneva by Turkish scientist Bilge Demirköz.  She was filmed by TRT for a documentary on her project which aired in Asia-Pasific countries.  Also, British publishing company, Harper Collins reserved 3 pages of an English Grammer book to her project, under the title of “Think differently”.

A Second year student at Johns Hopkins University, Elif Bilgin is also a part of a research team at the Dolen Lab of the university, working on exploring the social brain in health and diseases like otizm and schizophrenia.

Zeynep Gürhan Canlı
Koç University

Zeynep Gürhan-Canlı is Migros Professor of Marketing at the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics at Koç University. Her recent research with UNDP IICPSD focuses on the role of private sector in development. Her other research interests include consumer information processing in relation to branding and corporate image (brand relationships, co-branding, brand extensions, brand communications, corporate social responsibility), consumer fears and experiences. She completed her Ph.D. in marketing at New York University, Stern School of Business in 1997. Prior to joining Koç University, she was a faculty member in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She has published several articles in leading academic journals. She received a number of awards and was tenured at the University of Michigan in recognition of her productivity and quality of her publications. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and senior editor for International Journal of Research in Marketing. She is on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Marketing Behavior. She served as the Director of the Graduate School of Business at Koç University between 2010 and 2016. A study published in Journal of Marketing cited her among the top 50 most prolific scholars in the leading marketing journals during 1982-2006 by adjusted publication rate.

Karen Cirillo
Communications Specialist, UNDP Eurasia

Karen Cirillo is a multi-media creator and documentary programmer and producer, specializing in short non-fiction.Although a New Yorker, she is currently based in Istanbul, where she works for UNDP’s Regional Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia as a communications and multi-media specialist. She founded and curates Doxita, a traveling program of short non-fiction cinema. She has programmed for festivals and organizations, such as the Full Frame Documentary Festival, True/False, and Duke University Screen Society.  She previously worked for UNICEF managing an international children’s broadcasting initiative and the global OneMinutesJr. project, collaborating with video artists to produce video workshops for kids around the world.

Mert Fırat
Actor, Founder of www.ihtiyacharitasi.org

Mert Fırat was born in Ankara in 1981. After graduating from high school, he went to Sweden to receive training in radio and television.

Later he moved back to Ankara and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Theater from Ankara University Faculty of Language, History and Geography.

He has starred in a series of television programs and movies since 2005. He also played the lead role in the film “Love in Another Language”, the script of which was written by Fırat himself along with director İlksen Başarır. Fırat also wrote the script for the film titled “Atlıkarınca” (Merry-go-round).

Fırat, who has been involved in theater for many years performing on various stages, still performs in striking shows titled “Bütün Çılgınlar Sever Beni” (All the Crazy People Love Me) and “Parkta Güzel Bir Gün” (A Beautiful Day at the Park) on the Moda Stage.

He took part in a wide range of corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects and public awareness campaigns. He also taught acting and drama classes to children in Samsun İlkadım Learning Unit within the scope of “I Read, I Play” project carried out by the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV). He contributed greatly to setting up clubs for deaf and hearing impaired people and opening sign language courses by the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. He participated panels on incestuous relationships held by Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation. He played a significant role in making the issue of incest come to the forefront. He gave active support to the anti-fur campaign named “Take Off Your Fur, Wear Your Conscience” (Kürkünü Çıkar Vicdanını Giy) launched by the Bana Göz Kulak Ol Association.

Fırat, who took part voluntarily in various public awareness campaigns launched by the Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV), the Foundation for Children with Leukemia (LÖSEV) and a variety of LGBT and youth organizations is still involved voluntarily in many different campaigns and activities.

Last but not least he played an active role in national and global activities on gender equality and violence against women. Within this scope he voiced the infographic video on violence against women prepared by BİANET and also provided volunteer support for the video to reach a large audience. Furthermore Fırat took part in video-making process of “The Ozgecan Law” campaign started on Change.org platform. He appeared in the public awareness film of the campaign. He supports the HeforShe campaign, a solidarity campaign for gender equality initiated by the United Nations.

Mert Fırat, who works with various associations and foundations on corporate social responsibility, appears as a partner in two different projects. Firstly he put the “Sanat Mahal” project into practice with his partners in Bursa. This is a new social enterprise project aimed at creating an art space for the neighborhood and the city. Secondly, Fırat, one of the founders of www.ihtiyacharitasi.org contributes actively to planning and functioning of the project.

Başak Çubukçu
Correspondent , Al Jazeera Türk

Başak Çubukçu was born in İstanbul in 1976. After graduating from the Department of Journalism in the Faculty of Communication, Marmara University, she started working as a correspondent at the ATV News Center in 1995.

She later worked as a senior correspondent at BRT, NTV and CNN TURK news centers where she was the editor and presenter of numerous investigative news stories, news programmes and documentary news.

She received an accolade from the Turkish Journalists’ Association in the ” Documentary News” category for her documentary titled “Restoration on the Surface” in 2005.

After leaving CNN TÜRK, she produced and directed a documentary news programme titled “From the Past to the Future” at Turkish state television, TRT’s Arabic channel.

Çubukçu, who has a special focus on women, children, education, cultural heritage and human stories, has been working as a correspondent at Al Jazeera Türk since 2011.

Hansın Doğan
Private Sector Programme, UNDP in Turkey

Leading private sector programme of UNDP in Turkey. Founded Istanbul Private Sector Project Office in 2005 and acted as the head of the office. Created and managed over 50 public-private partnership projects. The projects addressed economic, social and environmental challenges, helped governmental relations and stakeholder management for the companies. Served in the advisory boards of several high impact business organizations and companies. Worked as the interim deputy director of Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development during its startup term between 2011 and 2014. Started and managed UN Global Compact Network in Turkey from 2005 till 2009 and handed over to private sector’s leadership. Organized theme and sector based workshops on sustainability issues in and outside of Turkey in cooperation with business organizations, chambers and local governments.  Supporting Syria crises response operations and coordinating the private sector’s role in crises response and recovery. Previously worked as an academic on human rights at Ankara University and managed the Human Rights Center of the University. Also worked as a consultant at Turkish Prime Ministry Under-secretariat of Treasury, US Embassy in Ankara and other international organizations between 1997 and 2011, as the President of the CSR Turkey Association between 2010 and 2011. He was also the editor of Human Rights Center Journal, founder and editor of Webkolik e-zine and has translated 5 books.

Cenk Gönen
Goal Keeper, Galatasaray FC

Cenk Gönen (b. February 21, 1988, İzmir, Turkey) Trained at the Göztepe FC youth academy, Cenk played his first pro match at the age of 16. In 2005, following his transfer from Göztepe FC to Denizlispor FC, young keeper then moved on with Altayspor FC, in 2008, and returned to Denizlispor the very same year. Cenk, who guarded the goal for Denizlispor against Galatasaray in the Turkcell Super League has guarded the U-15 goal twice, U-16 sixteen times, U-17 seven times, U-18 and U-21 twice and been the national keeper twice before, in August 27, 2016 he signed a three-year contract with Galatasaray.

Barış Doğru
EKOIQ Dergisi Yayın Yönetmeni

He was graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Sociology in 1995. He has a master’s degree from Mimar Sinan University in the field of Sociology and General Methodology. He is still working on his PhD about Sustainability Communication in Marmara University at the Department of Public Relations.

He started his professional career at the THY journal ‘SKYLIFE’ in 1995. He worked as an editor and the editor in chief for different agencies and corporations. He took on the publication of more than 50 magazines from different sectors and fields. He directed the first trekking documentary of Turkey “Likya Yolu” (the Lycian Way) in 2000. The documentary was printed by Okyanus Publishers. Barış Doğru whose book “Umudu Yeşertenler – Ekoloji Söyleşileri” was published by EKOIQ Kitaplığı, is also the translator of works on history of politics and pediatric development.

Also the founder of EKOLOGOS, which works in the field of Sustainability Communication and Management, Barış Doğru  for more than five years is working as the editor in chief of the first sustainability-focused, green, business and life magazine of Turkey: EKOIQ.

Nicolas Douillet
Communications Advisor for Eurasia, UNDP

Nicolas Douillet is a member of UNDP’s Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) since November 2015 as Regional Communications Specialist for Europe and the CIS at the Regional Hub in Istanbul, Turkey. Nicolas served as Regional Communications Specialist for Africa from 2009 to 2015, and Web Content Manager at the UNDP Office of Communications from 2005 to 2009. Prior to joining the UN, Nicolas worked as chief editor of a Paris-based newsmagazine. He started his career in journalism at AFP and has also worked with the BBC in Paris. Nicolas holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Hakan Dulkadiroğlu
Ministry of Youth and Sport - General Manager a.i.

He was born in Kırşehir in 1975. He graduated from Public Administration Department at Hacettepe University and then he started working at State Personel Presidency as an assistant state personnel expert. He became State Personnel Expert in 2002. He has got his master’s degree from University of Illinois at Springfield in 2007. During this time, he volunteered at Illinois State Museum. Between 2009-2010, He worked as a human resources policy officer at European Environment Agency. He completed his PhD. with his thesis “Volunteering, Voluntary Organizations and State Collaboration: The Case of AmeriCorps and A Model for Turkey”. Currently, He is an acting General Manager of Education, Culture and Research General Directorate for Ministry of Youth and Sport.

During his university years, he published some literary magazines with his friends and wrote stories. His writing journey is still continuing in scholarly field.

Nilay Erdem
Facebook Head of Public Policy, Turkey

Nilay Erdem is Facebook’s Head of Public Policy, Turkey. Prior to joining Facebook, Erdem worked as a Director at BTS & Partners for many years. Erdem also worked for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies in Turkey. She offered consultancy services in activities carried out in Turkey of pacesetter social media, e-commerce, sharing-economy companies and payment service providers in Silicon Valley. She has written a large number of articles and reports on information and communication technology law and policies and provided various trainings on the same subjects.

Nilay Erdem earned her Bachelor’s degree in Law from Istanbul University and her Master’s degree in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) from East Anglia University.

Bağış Erten
Socrates Sports Magazine
Ahmet Eti
CEO, Sebit

Ahmet Eti, the CEO of SEBIT 100% subsidiaries of Turk Telekom and Chairman of Sebit LLC as well as the founder of SEBIT AŞ and Sebit LLC (Arizona), is the creator of the award winning Vitamin and Adaptive Curriculum.

Driven by a passion for education and cognisant of technologies potential role on it, he began his carrier in 1988 as a Researcher in TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). There, he held a succession of positions culminating in his founding of the Computer Aided Education and Multimedia Research Laboratory. Between 1996 and 2002, he managed numerous award winning global projects including Akademedia and its Chinese version, Tian-yi which lead to the acquisition of Sebit by Siemens Business Services.  As the Global E-learning Director of Siemens, he implemented the Malaysian Education Ministry’s Math and Science Teaching Courseware Development Project and also spearheaded iClass, the largest educational R&D project of the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme. After being spun off from Siemens Business Services in 2006, he founded Sebit before selling his stake to Turk Telekom at the end of 2007.

One of the masterpiece product of Sebit Vitamin www.vitaminegitim.com, is an online e-learning solution which covers the entire curriculum of preschool, primary, middle and secondary education.

Turkey’s one and only personalized university preparation product Raunt www.raunt.com, World’s first educational search engine Egitim.com, Turkey’s first educational online shopping site “Vittrin” and a unique teachers’ professional development portal with distinguished live services reaching 120.00 registered users “www.vitaminogretmen.com” are some of the other products realized by his lead.

Adaptive Curriculum, the most recent project under his management has been honoured with several awards including; the CODiE Awards by The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) as “The Best Online Educational Solution” and “The Best Virtual School Solution”, “Best Content Service” award in the World Communication Awards and “Distinguished Achievement Award” by the Association of US Educational Publishers.

Eti has also served as the Turkish delegate of UNESCO at the Computer Aided Education Commission in 1989, a member of the Turkish Education Ministry’s Educational Technology Advisory Committee in 1990. In 2001, Eti was chosen Turkey’s Most Creative and Innovative Young Entrepreneur in the World Junior Entrepreneur Businessman Contest and in 2004 was honoured by the Professor Mustafa N. Parlar Training and Research Association’s Technology Encouragement Award.

Ahmet Eti received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University. He developed and held many projects in various countries for both governments and NGO’s with his expertise in creating and modelling innovative education solutions and highly contributed to the transformation of education globally.

Hatice Gökçe
Designer

Born in 1973, Hatice Gökçe graduated from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts and established her own design atelier in 1998. A pioneer in Turkey’s men’s fashion design, Gökçe was awarded her first professional prize in a 1998-competition for Best Design. A year later, she also won the Unique Design Award in Japan. As the founder and board member of the Fashion Designers Association of Turkey (MTD), Gökçe has been actively involving in civil society projects.

Since 2008, she’s been working as the brand coordinator of the UN-supported social responsibility project “Argande”. After signing a contract to become the design coordinator for Chinese menswear brand “Ilchi” in 2011, Gökçe presented the Leather Age Project respectively to a large audience in Beijing and Shangai. Designer, Milan Fashion Week in September 2015 The Leather Age showed the project.

She is known for her experimental approach to the use of new materials and shapes to reflect in her designs not only the perfect balance between the harmony of nature and the assertions of technology, but also the comfort and detail, lushness and profundity. Her brand brings into life the perfect unity of simplicity and elegant grandeur

Burcu Özdemir Kayımtu
TBWA Group Istanbul, CEO

She started her business life in Manajans Thompson in 2000. Then she offered her services to many brands for 2.5 years in Güzel Sanatlar – Saatchi&Saatchi. She worked in Canada Vancouver Symphony Orchestra marketing department for 8 months before she returned to Turkey. She joined TBWA\ISTANBUL in 2003. During her 13 years in TBWA\ISTANBUL she worked in many positions from Brand Representative to Managing Director and offered her services to many local and international brands.

After her promotion as the Managing Director, TBWA\ISTANBUL was recognized as “The Agency of the Year” for 2013 and 2014 by AdAge&MediaCat.

It was chosen the “Best Advertising Agency” by Capital for two consecutive years.

She started organizing “Advertising” lessons for senior advertising students in Bilgi University for introducing new talents to the sector between 2007 and 2012.

She participated in Association of Advertising Agencies Administration and Advertising Self-Regulatory Board for 2011-2012.

She was nominated in the 2015 Women to Watch Awards as one of the 13 professional women in Turkey who made a difference

She is married. Mother to Deniz.

Ercan Gümüş
Managing Partner at Cool Digital Solutions and founder of www.harcananzaman.com

Ercan Gümüş is the Managing Partner at Cool Digital Solutions, which is a project house located in San Francisco, Istanbul and Izmir, mainly focusing on USA and EU market to deliver its services. He also act as the country manager at 11Sight, which is a San Francisco based video conference company. Gümüş is a part-time lecturer at 9 Eylul University, a digital marketing consultant and a mentor at Startup Bootcamp.

Previously worked at Manggis Information Systems as managing partner, Huawei Telecom as business development manager, Gama Holding as product development manager. He has a bachelor’s degree on industrial engineering from Yeditepe University and a master’s degree on entrepreneurship from Özyeğin University.

Meral Güzel
Empower Women Regional Coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, UN Women

Meral Guzel is Empower Women Regional Coordinator of UNWomen for Europe and Central Asia, working on women’s economic empowerment issues.  With  over 10 years of experience in international development and financial services across Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East through work at the World Bank Group and the private sector, Meral’s expertise includes banking on women, financial inclusion (MSME development, remittances, access to finance), as well as women’s entrepreneurship. She has worked with both the private and public sectors in program strategy, design, implementation, and evaluation of innovative programmes. Prior to joining United Nations, Meral established the Women Banking department at Turk Ekonomi Bankasi and rolled-out initiatives and functions from the ground up.

Meral is an economist and holds Master’s degrees in International Franchise, International Finance and High European Studies . She speaks Turkish, English, French and Spanish and has three sons.

Tom Hannen
Executive Producer for Video, Financial Times

Tom Hannen worked at the BBC since 2004, making videos in 29 languages for BBC World, World Service, Newsnight, and until 2015 for BBC Media Action, the BBC’s International Development Charity.  He was one of the pioneers of drone journalism within BBC News, and has produced many data visualisation / infographic videos, as well as longer documentary films internationally, incorporating many innovative techniques. In September he moved to the Financial Times to take a role as Executive Producer for Video.

Murat Kansu
Microsoft Turkey – General Manager

Murat Kansu has 26 years of experience in IT sector. Kansu joined Microsoft’s leadership team in 2003 as Middle East and Africa Server and Tools Business Group Lead.  During his time, Microsoft’s Server and Tools business outperformed and achieved a threefold growth in revenue.

Between 2007 and 2010, Kansu acted as the Director of Business Operations in Microsoft Middle East and Africa, and contributed to the high performance of the region by orchestrating the functions and implementing Microsoft’s strategic plans. Murat Kansu was responsible for 80 different countries while he was managing Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) Business of Microsoft Middle East and Africa. During these three years, Kansu was deeply involved with the growth and distribution of Microsoft software across devices among local and global OEMs.

Since September 1st, 2015, Murat Kansu is the General Manager of Microsoft Turkey.

Gülnür Karakuzu
Founder of Eğlence Sokağı Youtube Channel

Gülnur Karakuzu (11) is the founder of Eğlence Sokağı Youtube channel with almost 100K followers which publishes science focused videos. She lives with her family in Tokat.

Mehmet Karakuzu
Father of Gülnur Karakuzu

Mehmet Karakuzu is the father of Gülnur, the owner of Eğlence Sokağı Youtube channel. He lives with his family and works as a cleric in Tokat.

Şükrü Oktay Kılıç
Editor, Al Jazeera Türk

Şükrü Oktay Kılıç is editor of new media desk at Al Jazeera Turk. He has started working in the field of journalism at the student newspaper of Istanbul University in 2008. He worked as a correspondent at Daily Radikal and covered news stories mostly about student movements and human rights in Turkey.

He has been with Al Jazeera since 2014 and responsible of developing new methods of creating and distributing content across the social media space, leading all major online editorial social media campaigns, creating and overseeing the engagement strategies.

Cenk Kıvılcım
General Manager - Cisco Turkey

Cenk Kıvılcım is the General Manager of Cisco in Turkey. Cenk joined Cisco from Alcatel Lucent where his most recent role was Chairman of ALU Teletas and Cluster Leader of both Turkey and Azerbaijan. Cenk is a seasoned Information Technology (IT) industry veteran having started at Siemens. He spent over 15 years at ALU holding various leadership positions, including Managing Director and Country Senior Officer for Nigeria and Ghana, Director Carrier Sales for Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and East Africa, as well as Director Export, Access and Data, Europe and South.

Furthermore, he is a board member of a number of influential industry bodies amongst them, the Turkey Industry and Business Association for Communication (TUBISAD) and Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV). He is also member of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) Istanbul Technical University Alumni Society, the Besiktas (BJK) Club and American Chamber of Commerce in Turkey.

Cenk Kıvılcım, graduated from Electronics and Communications Engineering, Istanbul Technical University in 1997 and completed the Marketing, Telecommunication Postgraduate program at INSEAD, France in 2002. He also hold a certificate from High Valued Managers Program at Manchester Business School, United Kingdom in 2006.

Cenk holds a BSc Honours degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Outside of work, Cenk enjoys swimming, reading, playing basketball and golf as well as windsurfing.

Kıvılcım, speaks English and Dutch, is married and has two children.

Emre Kızılkaya
Digital Content Coordinator at Hurriyet

Turkish journalist Emre Kızılkaya started his career at Hürriyet newspaper in 2003 as a foreign news editor. After a stint as the chief editor of the foreign news service, he was promoted as the editorial coordinator of Hürriyet Daily News, the English language edition of Hürriyet. Currently, Kızılkaya serves as the digital content coordinator of Hürriyet. Kızılkaya, who is the vice chair of the Vienna-based International Press Institute’s (IPI) Turkish National Committee, has published several articles on New Media in his columns for hurriyet.com.tr, beside MA degree from Marmara University

Şölen Kipöz
Editor of the “Sustainable Fashion”

ŞÖLEN KİPÖZ had her bachelor study at the Industrial Design Department, Middle East Technical University ; masters degree from Dokuz Eylül University Fine Arts Faculty, Textile Department, and PhD from Communications & Public Relations Department in the field of Fashion Communications in Aegean University.  Her post-doctorate research on Fashion Management took place in Bologna University through a scholarship from Italian Government. She started her academic career in Dokuz Eylül University where she conducted jewelry design projects; She was awarded with best-accessory prize in Beymen-Academia design competition , and participated as a designer in a trend catalog project/Gold Trends Turkey for World Gold Council. She worked as an academic member in Izmir Institute of Technology Industrial Design Master Program. In 2001 she is assigned as a founding academic member of Izmir University of Economics, Fashion Design Department. Currently she is working there as an associate prof.dr, where she delivers courses entitled Fashion Theory, Trend Analysis and Predictions, Graduation Thesis, Fashion Editorial and Writing in Fashion and Textile Design Department and masters/ phd courses as Ethics and Social Responsibility in Design and Narratives in Art and Design in Design Studies program.

Apart from conducting trend research projects and publishing trend books for bridal, jewelry and ready to wear sector, her research interests and publications cover conceptual fashion design, interdisciplinary fashion studies, and ethical and sustainable fashion design. She edited the book entitled Dress Against Disaster (2007), which provided a theoretical basis for a design project exhibited in Social Design Bienale in Utrecth. Her new book entitled Sustainable Fashion (2015) has been influential in the path of slow and ethical fashion and opened a new channel as Ahimsa fashion. Her research covering ethical and sustainable fashion which she challenges the borders between design, art and crafts, has outcomes as some artistic presentations and exhibitions. Her personal exhibition Ahimsa: The other life of clothes (2012) and her installations and performances for PortIzmir3 International Contemporary Art Triennial (2014) are notable. The rag doll which can be produced and personalized by the user, which she designed as a part of the installation “The Legacy in the Pocket” is registered as a utility model by Turkish Patent Institute. Kipöz , first shared this project with women communities and nowadays she is producing  and creating  together with children and teenagers.

Alp Köksal
Khan Academy TR Advocate

Having studied in both Turkey and the United States at high-school and undergraduate levels, Alp Köksal has developed a global and multicultural perspective on education. After graduating from high school in the United States, he has earned his BA degree in Business Administration and MA degree in European Studies as the highest ranking graduate. Alp has worked as a doctoral level research associate at Boğaziçi University and he is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. He has conducted comparative research on Turkey versus developed and developing countries with a focus on social policy and education. Alp has brought his interest in multicultural education, non-profit work and academic background together when he joined the startup Khan Academy TR, the first international initiative of the U.S. based education platform in 2012. Khan Academy is a non-profit, which has delivered nearly 1 billion online lessons in 36 languages. An NGO with the goal to support lifelong learning and a mission to change education for the better. Also, the General Manager of STFA Group’s Foundation for Translation of Scientific and Technical Publications; Alp leads the operation of translating, localizing and introducing Khan Academy to Turkish speakers in the world. Alp has been the advocate of Khan Academy in Turkey, having participated in numerous conferences on education technologies, innovation and social entreprenourship. He has aslo found a chance to share his story on the TEDx stage and he has been invited to keynote the first Educational Technologies Summit organized by the Ministry of National Education in 2015.

Özgür Mehmet Kütküt
Techsoup/Google4NP
He was born in 1982. He completed his master’s degree in Sociology after his degree in Public Administration. He has been working at Civil Society Development Center (STGM) since 2007 at different positions, became communication coordinator in 2013. After STGM has started conducting Techsoup Turkey, he has become a member of a team which carries on digital capacity building and software donation programs. He is responsible for STGM-Techsoup digital capacity building programs.
He has given trainings to different foundations and CSOs about new media and efficient use of digital technologies,he has created initiative models. He has been working on advocacy, lobbying, customizing of digital technologies for campaigns and their use in different fields. He has a blog on digital technologies for CSOs at ozgurmehmetk.net
Naomi Larsson
Journalist - The Guardian

Naomi works on the Guardian’s global development professionals network as a writer and content coordinator. She completed a master’s degree in journalism at City University London where she specialised in humanitarian reporting. Naomi has covered human rights stories for the Guardian from Cuba and Palestine, and was shortlisted for the PPA’s new talent awards in 2016.

Suat Özçağdaş
Co-founder, SIM

Suat Özçağdaş was born in İzmir in 1973. He was graduated from Middle East Technical University with a BS in Psychology in 1997 and continued working there as research assistant. Throughout his career, Mr. Özçağdaş has held several executive positions in major NGO’s such as International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Turkish Red Crescent Society and Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV).

After his career in TEGV, Suat Özçağdaş established Center for Social Innovation Turkey as a social enterprise to create innovative solutions to unmet social problems in order to contribute to a sustainable and quality-life for individuals, society and the planet. Mr. Özçağdaş consults on corporate volunteerism & sustainability, strategic planning and NGO capacity development and lectures in İstanbul Bilgi University on social entrepreneurship.

suato@sosyalinovasyonmerkezi.com.tr
www.en.sosyalinovasyonmerkezi.com.tr

Centre for Social Innovation Turkey

Center for Social Innovation (CSI Turkey) is a social enterprise established in September 2011 by a group of academicians and civil society specialists to carry out social innovation work within the areas of Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Volunteerism, Capacity Building for Civil Society and Corporate Development and to carry out Social Researches, Database and Publications with this respect. CSI Turkey, as the very first center for social innovation activities in Turkey, currently runs projects with several NGO’s, universities, private, public and social enterprises.

Ali Ercan Özgür
Founder of International Development Management (IDEMA) and www.harcananzaman.com

Ali Ercan Özgür holds a PhD in Local Governments and Decentralization Department from Marmara University with a doctoral dissertation on “Development Agencies in Turkey under the Auspices of the EU”. He is a graduate of Political Science and International Relations Department (Marmara University, İstanbul) and holds a MSc degree in Governance and Development Management from University of Birmingham, UK with a Master’s thesis on “Aid Coordination and Effectiveness in Turkey”. He is British Foreign & Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholar for Master’s degree, Marshall Memorial Fellow of German Marshall Fund of the United States and Black Sea Young Reformer. He is the co-author of the book “Local Governments System in Turkey, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic”.

Ali Ercan Özgür is the Co-founder and Managing Director of IDEMA International Development Partners (www.idema.com.tr). Previously he worked as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Turkey. He started civil society work at Youth for Habitat International Network (now Habitat Governance and Development Center) as International Relations Coordinator in 2001. Then he worked as the Local Governance Fund Manager at United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Branch (UCLG-MEWA), the Projects Coordinator at Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV), the Projects Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey (CSR-Turkey) and the Good Governance Program Manager at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). Ali Ercan Özgür coordinated research and social projects with the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and private sector. Özgür is the Member of Board and the Secretary General of the Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey. Özgür’s fields of work and consultancy are international partnerships, regionalism, regional development, governance, development management, local administrations, corporate social responsibility, non-governmental organizations and international reliefs and funds.

Kamal Malhotra
UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey

Kamal Malhotra assumed his positions as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Turkey on 8 April 2013.

Prior to this appointment (late October 2008-31 March 2013), Mr. Malhotra was the UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia; UNDP Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam and UNFPA Representative for Malaysia.

From 1999 to 2008 he worked in UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy, New York as Senior Adviser on Inclusive Globalization (and Cluster Leader) (2002-2008), Civil Society Empowerment Adviser (2001-2002) and Senior Civil Society Adviser (1999-2000).

Before joining UNDP, Mr. Malhotra was Co-Founder and Co-Director of Focus on the Global South, (1995-1999) a global policy research organization located at the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute in Thailand. During this period, he was also a part-time Regional Adviser on Macroeconomic Policies and Children’s Rights for Save the Children Fund (UK) for South-East Asia and the Pacific.

Prior to this, Mr. Malhotra was Director of the Overseas and Aboriginal Programme at Community Aid Abroad (Oxfam Australia), based in Melbourne, Australia from 1988 to 1995. He also served with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the Philippines (1982-1988) in various positions as Research and Rural Credit Specialist, Associate Director, and Director, International Extension.

Mr. Malhotra holds an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, with a specialization in economic and political development, a Master’s in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, India with a specialization in finance and economics, and a BA in Economics (with Honors Degree), from the University of Delhi, India.

Mr. Malhotra is widely published with over 75 journals and other articles on the multilateral system and development cooperation. He is also the lead author or co-author of more than five books including the UNDP led Making Global Trade Work for People (Earthscan, 2003) and Globalization and the Least Developed Countries (UNDP, in cooperation with the UN-OHRLLS and the Government of Turkey, 2008). He also initiated and led Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development (UNDP, 2011) in cooperation with the Government of Singapore

Elizabeth Mearns
BBC Media Action

As BBC Media Action’s Senior Producer, Digital, Elizabeth Mearns (@lmearns) trains and advises digital innovations and social media strategy to production teams both in the UK and worldwide. She is at the forefront of developing new digital media formats and Social Media strategies for projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Elizabeth spends a good amount of time travelling to train and mentor BBC Media Action production staff to harness the huge potential technological advancement in developing countries, with a special emphasis on mobile broadband. Her main areas of expertise are multimedia news journalism, radio documentaries, social media and digital tools. Previously, Elizabeth was a producer at NPR, CNNi and BBC World Service. Gaining an MA (Econ) in International Development from the University of Manchester she started her career at Oxfam. Here she learned the importance of the role of media in development and decided to train in media production. Twenty years later she has found herself in a development role again, bringing her knowledge and expertise to the humanitarian sector

Mete Meleksoy
General Manager - Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey

Mr. Meleksoy is a graduate of Robert College. He got his BA from Bogazici University Dept. of Political Science, and his MA from Marmara University European Union Institute. Mr. Meleksoy worked for the European Commission at its Brussels headquarters and at its delegation in Ankara. He specialized in Customs Union and EU projects. During his time in investment banking, he worked with institutional investors in world’s key financial capitals. Mr. Meleksoy was a founder of Alisbagis.com.tr, an innovative example to social entrepreneurship,  which raised funds for Turkey’s leading civil society organizations by mobilizing millions of people over the Internet.

He also led individual civil society projects in Turkey covering a vast geographical area. Mr. Meleksoy served as the Secretary-General of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, Turkey’s oldest and largest, from 2006 to 2013. He is currently the General Manager of TEGV, Turkey’s leading foundation for children’s education. He is married and father to a daughter

Yusuf Omar
Head of mobile journalism at Hindustan Times

Yusuf Omar is Mobile Editor of the Hindustan Times in India. He is currently building the world’s largest mobile journalism team,  training 750 reporters to tell stories using their phones.

Currently in London, he’s attending the Thomson Foundation Media Convergence course.

In 2015, Yusuf won Vodacom Journalist of the Year Editor’s Choice, recognizing five years of mobile journalism and virtual reality stories in Africa. He has been named a ‘Top 20 Global Millennial To Watch In 2016’ by Cliff Central.

At this year’s Mobile Journalism Conference in Dublin, Yusuf won Mobile Journalist of the Year 2016. He has been researching Snapchat storytelling as #DukeMediaFellow in North Carolina, USA – and most recently has used Snapchat to help tell stories of sexual abuse in India.

As a foreign correspondent, Yusuf has reported live from the Syrian front line and other hostile environments,

He was born in the UK, raised in Australia, studied in USA, worked in South Africa and currently lives in India.

Gülsin Onay
Pianist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Gülsin Onay’s subsequent, truly international career has spanned 70 countries across all continents, from Venezuela to Japan. Gülsin Onay has given concerts in the major musical centers of the world.

An exceptional Chopin interpreter, Gülsin Onay was in 2007 honored with the award of a State Medal by the Polish nation. She is also acknowledged worldwide as the finest interpreter of the music of Adnan Saygun, whose works feature prominently in her concerts and recordings, and whose 2nd Piano Concerto (which she has premiered in Turkey and abroad) was dedicated to her.

“An exceptional pianist, endowed with virtuosic brilliance and boundless energy, and an interpretive power both intelligent and emotionally sensitive”, Gülsin Onay has recorded 20 albums that illustrate the breadth of her repertoire as well as her interpretive power.

Gülsin Onay takes a special interest in the promotion of charitable causes, giving charity concerts all around the world – most recently for children in Lebanon, under the auspices of UNICEF, whose Turkish National Committee appointed her “Goodwill Ambassador” in 2003. Since its inception in 2004, Gülsin Onay has been the artistic advisor of the Gümüşlük Classical Music Festival.

Başak Yalvaç Özçağdaş
Field and Volunteering Department Chief - TEMA Foundation

(b. 1977, Ankara) She graduated from the Department of Social Sciences under the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Hacettepe University. After her voluntary work at establishments such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Uçan Süpürge (the Flying Broom), she worked at the Department of Education and Protection of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF) as a Consultant between 2000-2002 and Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey as a Volunteer Coordinator between 2003-2011. She continues to work in the field of civil society and volunteerism since 2012 as The Field and Volunteering Department Chief in TEMA Foundation.

Bülent Özcan
Ministry for EU Affairs - Director for Project Implementation

Bülent Özcan is the director of Directorate of Project Implementation in the Ministry for EU Affairs. He is responsible from the management of various projects implemented by the Ministry for EU Affairs. The main objectives of these projects are to strengthen the capacity of CSOs, to support civil society dialogue between EU and Turkey, to increase the capacities of local authorities in the EU process and to support EU expertise in public and private sector, universities and  civil society organisations.

Uygar Özesmi
Founder of www.Good4Trust.org
Murad Tiryakioğlu
Afyon Kocatepe University

Murad Tiryakioğlu graduated from Afyon Kocatepe University with a BA and an MA in Economics and an MBA in Business Administration. He received his PhD from the same university with a dissertation on the use of technology transfer as a strategic resource for the acquisition of technological capabilities. Tiryakioğlu, who has been working in the department of Economics in Afyon Kocatepe University since August 2001, has experience in social responsibility projects related to disaster planning. He has been a disaster volunteer for Afyonkarahisar Disaster and Emergency Management Office since 2007 and works for Disaster Awareness Association founded in 2013 by Tiryakioglu. His academic study areas focus on economic and social development, social innovation and predominantly green growth, humanitarian innovation, and economic impacts of disasters in recent years.

Tiryakioglu continues his efforts to establish a “Platform for Development with Disasters” with the vision he gained from his edited book called “Development with Disasters: Experience, Policies and Prospects” (2016) and a forthcoming book under the name of “Social, Sectoral and Regional Dimensions of Development with Disasters

Monica Prisacariu
Programme Officer for United Nations Volunteers

Monica Prisacariu  came in Turkey four months ago, as Programme Officer for United Nations Volunteers in Turkey,  after spending more than two years in the same job, in Egypt. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to volunteerism for development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging the integration of volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

Before joining UNV, Monica worked in Romania as Programme Manager, community facilitator, HR consultant and trainer, and in Tajikistan, as Capacity Building consultant for grass roots NGOs .

Monica is passionate about nonformal education, community development, and innovative solutions in tackling issues associated with poor housing. Her motto is: “If something is too stable, than has to be changed!”

Ayşe Sabuncu
Co-Founder - Impact Hub Istanbul

Ayşe Sabuncu is one of the co-founders of Impact Hub Istanbul. After completing her undergraduate studies with a double major in computer engineering and business at Johns Hopkins University, Sabuncu started her career in banking industry at Citi Group in New York where she served at different levels for 5 years.

While working at Citi Group, through Adım Adım (Step by Step) Initiative she came across a fundraising project for the welfare of the youth “Gençlere Değer Projesi” by Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı (Community Volunteer Foundation). In support of this cause, Sabuncu climbed Kilimanjaro Mountain with her friends and after this experience she decided to give another direction to her life.

She did an MBA program at Stern School of New York University to advance her knowledge on social impact, innovation and entrepreneurship. She specifically focused on social entrepreneurship, microfinance and social investment subjects. In the summer of 2014, she started working in the field of microfinance with Kiva – a global non-profit organization – in Zimbabwe and South Africa where she was introduced to Impact Hub.

In the last two years, Sabuncu and her partners have been working on mapping and analysis of social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkey. Having moved in their new home at İstanbul’s upcoming industrial district 4.Levent Sanayi in June 2016, Ayşe Sabuncu believes that Impact Hub Istanbul will be the meeting point of all impact driven individuals as well as serving as an inspirational space to foster social innovation

Ozan Sakin
Sofar Sounds İstanbul

Ozan Sakin was graduated from Galatasaray High School and Koc University Business Administration. He started his brand management career in L’Oréal in 2003 and shifted to digital advertising in McCann Erickson. A big believer in the brotherhood of online and offline, he moved on to the client side at Digiturk and Lig TV (Turkey’s largest Pay TV/Digital broadcaster) coordinating all digital communication. The advertising ban on all alcoholic drinks which became effective right after he started in Anadolu Efes (Turkey’s largest alcoholic beverages company) as digital marketing manager put him in a very peculiar position: He had to produce and spread an unreasonable amount of anonymous (or UGC?) content over the internets because of (or thanks to?) this ban. He is now designing new generation content and experience projects for brands.

Ozan Sakin has been working as Sofar Turkey director since December 2013 with Eda Demir, who had originally implemented the global concept in Turkey. He continues to organize independent music gigs in the living rooms of complete strangers, every month.

Serdar Sayar
General Manager of Hitachi Data Systems Turkey
Aysun Sayın
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Director of Boyner Grup

Aysun Sayın is Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Director of Boyner Grup. Ms. Sayın, studied Anthropology and has a master degree in Gender Studies and Business Administration.

At Boyner Group, she is responsible for social and environmental performance including Supply Chain Sustainability. She is also working on social entrepreneurship and strategic philanthropy field  at Boyner Vakfı Buluşum platform.  www.bulusum.biz

Being active in civil society and working within Boyner Group, she has specialized on social development, especially on women rights and on labour market issues.

She represents Boyner group as a member of United Nations Global Compact Advisory Group on Supply Chain Sustainability and as the chair of Global Compact Turkey Network Supply Chain Sustainability. She has been elected as a Eisenhower Fellow 2010, since 2010, She also advisory board member of the Global Fund for Women -Middle East North Africa in 2010.

Serra Titiz
Mikado Consulting - Social Entrepreneurs

Serra Titiz has been working on sustainable development since 2003. She worked with youth, with women and vocational groups at large NGOs at managerial levels, has participated to international programs on NGOs and Civic Activism. Her work has always been a reflection of social innovation.

Today, Serra Titiz is the founder and the managing director of a social enterprise: Mikado Sustainable Development Consulting, in Istanbul, Turkey. Mikado, is a social enterprise that crafts models for sustainable development. Mikado develops models through viable partnerships among private sector, civil society, educational institutions and public organizations and through mobilizing and matching existing resources with the needs of the society. (www.mikadoconsulting.com). Mikado is the first B Corp Company in Turkey and was selected amongst the “Best For The World” companies in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Mikado acts like an incubation center and a catalyst for social innovation.

One example is the “Future is Brighter” Youth Platform (www.gelecekdaha.net), which is an online platform, creating social impact through use of technology. The Project is targeting youth unemployment and enables knowledge and experience sharing without any time and space restriction for youth to make more informed decisions about their education, career and life. The e-mentoring module is a prominent tool developed to enable volunteers (400 today) to meet and share professional expertise with students.

Besides her work at Mikado Consulting, Serra serves as senior expert at various UNDP projects.

Serra has been named Ashoka Fellow in 2013. She is an Eisenhower Fellow.

Serra obtained her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Bosphorus University, Istanbul; then obtained her masters degree in Business Administration from Aston University, Birmingham, England. Serra has various certificates on sustainability management, impact measurement and social entrepreneurship.

Saba Tümer
Broadcaster

She graduated from Ege University, from the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Communication, and started her broadcasting career in Sky TV and Ege TV after which she worked at NTV as an anchorwoman for 4 and a-half years also publishing her articles in the NStyle magazine. She then worked at Show TV and Sky Türk for the news and current affairs programs. For a while she hosted the “Haber Makinası” show with Okan Bayülgen. She reached out to masses with her show “Saba Tümer İle Bu Gece” (Tonight w/ Saba Tümer) which was aired in Show TV, Haber Türk and CNN Türk. She also hosted the show “Lütfen Bu Konuya Girmeyelim” (Let’s Not Go Into That) with Pakize Suda in Star TV. Some other TV shows she is known for are “Saba Tümer’le Bugün” (Today w/ Saba Tümer) and “Saba ile Oyuna Geldik” (Let’s Play w/ Saba).

Fatih Türkmenoğlu
MC, TV Journalist and Producer, Author

Fatih Türkmenoğlu earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Counseling from Boğaziçi University and Master’s degree in Human Resources Management (HRM) from New York University. He started writing in Sabah newspaper and prepared and presented the radio program “Köşebaşı” on Radio 2019. He started working as a correspondent for NTV in 1996. He has covered breaking news from across the country and around the globe and produced a wide range of television programs. He produced and hosted television programs such as “Renkler ve Sesler” (Sounds and Colors), “Sevgi İle” (With Love), “Her Mevsim Bahar” (Every Season is Spring), “Hindistan’dan Masallar” (Stories from India) and “Yolcu” (Traveler) in four and a half years.

He participated in a wide range of trainings and conferences at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta after having been invited by CNN International. In 2001, he started to work for CNN Turk and continued preparing and hosting “Sounds and Colors”. He began working as a reporter and producer for CNN Turk in 2003 and worked as a columnist for Turkish Daily News (the column’s name: A Day Out in Istanbul). He was also the volunteer chief editor of the monthly media organ “B” of the Boğaziçi University Alumni Association (BÜMED).

He has interviewed various world-renowned celebrities such as Hillary Clinton, Aga Khan, Glafcos Klerides, Liza Minnelli, Sophia Loren, Carla Bruni and many others. He has traveled to more than 70 countries in pursuit of countless stories and always brought humans factor into the forefront in a great deal of political and social news. He won the award for “Best TV Program” from the Marmara University Faculty of Communication in 1997 along with many other awards presented to him by various local organizations and private companies. He also received an award for the Best News Report at the CNN World Report Awards, 1999. He has been presented the “Broadcaster of the Year Award” many times by various institutions.

His first book “Üç Kuruş Fazla Olsun, Kırmızı Olsun” composed of 27 stories was published by Epsilon Publishing House in 2003. His second book “Amerikan Rüyası Tabirleri” was also published by Epsilon Publishing House in 2005. Türkmenoğlu conducted weekly interviews and wrote travel articles for the weekend supplement of Milliyet Daily newspaper. He prepared and hosted “Sahil Günlüğü” (The Coast Diary) for more than 10 years. He hosted CNN Turk shows “Görülmesi Gereken 50 Yer” (50 Must-See Destinations), “Afiş” (Poster) and “Hayat Gezince Güzel” (Life Is Beautiful When You Travel) for 13 years. The seventh edition of “Türkiye’de Görülmesi Gereken 101 Yer” (101 Must-See Places in Turkey) that he co-wrote along with Saffet Emre Tonguç was released and it was also translated into English. His last book “Hayat Gezince Güzel – Sahilde” (Life Is Beautiful When You Travel – On The Coast) was published by Inkılap Publishing House.

He participated in a series of seminars as a Visiting Research Fellow at Northwestern University last year. He produces documentaries, biographical and corporate films. He emcees at special events and teaches courses on media relations, presentation skills, Generation Y and positive psychology.

Faik Uyanık
UNDP Communications Officer for Turkey

Graduated from Istanbul University’s Faculty of Economics. Completed his master’s degree on European Studies at Catholic Leuven University in Belgium where he was awarded with Jean Monnet Scholarship. There he focused on the regional development policy of the EU. Completed master’s and PhD degrees in journalism at Marmara University in Istanbul. Started his journalism and broadcasting career in 1992 at BRT, a TV station of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. He worked for NTV, the first news channel of Turkey, for ten years starting from 1997. Also worked for the BBC Turkish Service for more than three years in London. In 2008 he won the Sedat Simavi Prize of Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC).

Since 2010 he is taking care of the communications of United Nations Development Programme in Turkey. He is also a member of UNDP’s Eurasia communications team, based in Istanbul, responsible from partnerships, events and press relations.

Selin Ünal
External Relations and Public Information Officer, UNHCR

As External Relations and Public Information Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Selin Ünal leads communications efforts and serves as spokesperson in Turkey, the world’s largest refugee host country as of end of 2014, in one of UNHCR’s largest operations globally. Operating in 126 countries, UNHCR provides shelter and assistance for millions of people who have fled wars and persecution. In her role, Selin Ünal implements UNHCR Turkey’s communications strategy along with her team to raise awareness on the displaced persons vis-à-vis the varied audiences, including media, local communities and donors. She joined UNHCR in 2012 from the International Organization for Migration where she served for more than 8 years in different departments including programme and external relations.

Rastislav Vrbensky
UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub Manager

Rastislav Vrbensky is currently the Manager of UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS. The Hub serves more than 20 countries and 18 UNDP offices in the region. Prior to this assignment, he served as UN Resident Coordinator/ UNDP Resident Representative in Montenegro, UNDP Country Director in Tajikistan and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Serbia. Between 2000-2004, he held a number of positions in UNDP Regional Centre in Bratislava including Assistant Director and Sustainable Development Policy Advisor. Prior to his career with UNDP, he worked for the Government of Slovakia Ministry of Environment and some international NGOs.

Rastislav Vrbensky holds a PhD. in Development Studies and a Master of Environmental Science from Comenius University Bratislava as well as a Master of Environmental Management from University of Amsterdam. In 2007, he was a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics

Duygu Yardımcı
Ministry for EU Affairs
Deniz Yılmaz
Originator of Koton Hand Work Project

Deniz Yılmaz was born in Istanbul on July 29th, 1998. She completed her primary and secondary school education at Hisar Schools. Deniz Yılmaz, who is still a 12th grade student at Robert College, enjoys horse riding, yoga, reading and cooking. Deniz, who turned her greatest passion, cooking into a product, published a book titled “Youngster’s Kitchen” in the recent months. She also has a foodblog under the name of “youngsterskitchen.com”. Deniz’s goals include helping make inclusive and social businesses more prevalent in Turkey and increasing the private sector’s involvement in such projects. In this sense, Deniz Yılmaz worked as a research assistant in Professor Zeynep Gurhan Canli’s UNDP supported research, “Inclusive Business: A New, Sustainable and Innovative Private Sector” in the summer of 2015, and in order to deepen her involvement in this field, she interned at the Yunus Center of Bangladesh, founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus in the summer of 2016. Deniz Yılmaz came up with her idea of an inclusive-business clothing line at a social service project that she attended in Bayburt- a city in Northeastern Turkey. The “El Emegi” (“Hand Made”) project took root from her observations there. She used her family company, Koton, as a channel to put her idea to life. Koton partnered with ÇATOM (Multi-Purpose Social Centers), a joint venture of UNDP the government. The clothes, which are designed by the design team of Koton within the scope of Koton Hand Made Project, are embroidered by 350 women living in Soma, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Mardin, Adıyaman and Batman, and offered to millions of Koton customers in 45 stores. In 2016, the pilot phase of the project successfully came to an end, as the project became one of Koton’s official clothing lines. The “Hand Made” project will be sold in 200 stores in the winter season of 2016, reaching almost 10,000 women.


AGENDA

You can watch the video of the relevant session by clicking the icon end of the session name.
11:00 - 12:00 - Registration and late breakfast
Opening - 12:00
Master of Ceremony

Fatih Türkmenoğlu
 
Welcoming on behalf of UNDP IRH

Rastislav Vrbensky
Welcoming on behalf of UNDP Turkey

Kamal Malhotra
#2030NOW: Global Goals and the Technology that will Help Achieve Them

Mert Başar (Türk Telekom)
Networking for the World's To-Do List: Goals for the Next 15 Years

Naomi Larsson (The Guardian), Nicolas Douillet (Moderator, UNDP)
Using power of technology to build a better tomorrow: Corporate Digital Responsibility - Digitally Enabling Citizens

Cenk Kıvılcım (Cisco Turkey), Burak Aydın (Intel Turkey), Mert Başar (Türk Telekom), Murat Kansu (Microsoft Turkey)
13:00 - 14:00
Mobile Journalism for Social Good

Şükrü Oktay Kılıç (Al Jazeera), Başak Çubukçu Sulanç (Al Jazeera), Ali Ercan Özgür (Moderator, IDEMA)
Kids and Inclusion through Music

Gulsin Onay (Pianist, Unicef Turkey Good Will Ambassador)
Champions of the Social Good: Promoting Goodness

Uygar Özesmi (Trust4Good), Mete Meleksoy (TEGV), Ali Ercan Özgür (Moderator, IDEMA)
Facebook for Good: Is it only a toy?

Nilay Erdem (Facebook), Emre Kızılkaya (Moderator,Hürriyet)
Water footprint: Water Explorers

Serra Titiz (Mikado) and Water Explorers
Women in Online Action

Meral Güzel (UN Women - www.empowerWomen.org)
14:00 - 15:00
Ways of Funding for a Sustainable NGO

Duygu Yardımcı (Ministry for EU Affairs, Turkey), Özgür Mehmet Kütküt (TechSoup Turkey, Google 4 Nonprofits) + Aynur Sayın (Boyner - Buluşum), Barış Doğru (Moderator, EkoIQ)
Digital Transformation: Edge of a new era - Smart Cities

Serdar Sayar (Hitachi Data Turkey), Mert Başar (Türk Telekom), Hansın Doğan (Moderator, UNDP)
The Next Chapter in Global Education

Ahmet Eti (Sebit Education), Fatih Türkmenoğlu (Moderator, Journalist)
Into the Deep: Snapchat into the Dark Side

Yusuf Omar (Hindustan Times)
Social Entrepreneurship: Fashion or Must

Ayşe Sabuncu (Impact Hub), Karen Cirillo (Moderator, UNDP)
15:00 - 16:00
100% Sport, Harnessing the Power of the Fan

Cenk Gönen (Galatasaray FC), Bağış Erten (Moderator, Socrates)
Curating Good Music Socially

Ozan Sakin (Sofar)
Refugees: The Route to Resettlement

Selin Unal (UNHCR)
Seeing the World from the Innovation Corner

Elizabeth Mearns (BBC Media Action), Thomas Hannen (Financial Times)
New Problems, New Solutions

Suat Özçağdaş (SIM)
VIDEO SESSION: Banana Skin Can Change the World: Inspiring Innovations

Elif Bilgin (Inventor), Faik Uyanık (Moderator, UNDP)
16:00 - 17:00
To Change Everything We Need More Time

Ali Ercan Özgür (HarcananZaman.com), Ercan Gümüş (HarcananZaman.com)
Rethinking the Development: Development with Disasters

Murad Tiryakioğlu (Academic, Afyon Kocatepe University)
Communication for Good

Burcu Kayımtu (TBWA Istanbul)
Sustainable Fashion: Is it an oxymoron?

Hatice Gökçe (Argande), Şölen Kipöz (Moderator - Sustainable Fashion)
Volunteering for Good: Managing the Enthusiasm

Başak Yalvaç (TEMA), Monica Prisacariu (UNV), Hakan Dulkadiroğlu (Ministry of Youth and Sports, Turkey), Suat Özçağdaş (Social Innovation Center, Turkey)
Online Education for Masses

Alp Köksal (Khan Academy)
17:00 - 18:00
The Map We Need

Mert Fırat (Actor)
Can Businesses Include Everyone?

Deniz Yılmaz (Social Entrepreneur), Zeynep Gürhan Canlı (Moderator, Koç University)
Can Facetime change everything?

Hande Fırat (Journalist), Faik Uyanık (Moderator, UNDP)
The Future We Want: Power of Video

Gülnur Karakuzu (Founder of Eğlence Sokağı Youtube Channel from Tokat),  Mehmet Karakuzu (Gülnur's Father), Saba Tümer ( Moderator, Boradcaster)
 
  • SGS Programming will run from 12:00 to 18:00.
  • Times and names are subject to change, please refer to the website for the most up to date information

2015 Konuşmacıları

Dr. Coşkun Şahin

Teknoloji Genel Müdür Yardımcısı - Türk Telekom


George Bouma

Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Ekip Lideri, UNDP İstanbul Bölgesel Merkezi


Kamal Malhotra

BM Türkiye Mukim Koordinatörü ve UNDP Türkiye Mukim Temsilcisi


Emine Etili

Twitter Kamu Politikalarından Sorumlu Türkiye Koordinatörü



Nilay Erdem

Facebook Kamu Politikaları Türkiye Sorumlusu


Pınar Dağ

Gazeteci, Akademisyen ve www.dagmedya.net Kurucusu


Mert Fırat

Oyuncu, www.ihtiyacharitasi.org Kurucusu


Shelley Inglis

Bölge Takım Lideri, Yönetişim ve Barışın İnşası, UNDP İstanbul Bölgesel Merkezi



Gülsin Onay

Piyanist ve UNICEF İyi Niyet Elçisi


Selin Girit

Gazeteci


Milica Begovic

Bilgi ve İnovasyon Uzmanı, UNDP İstanbul Bölgesel Merkezi



Vladimir Vulic

İnovasyon Danışmanı ve Digitalizuj.me Ortak Kurucusu - Karadağ


Nana Tsiklauri

Kamu Hizmeti Geliştirme Ajansı, Gürcistan Adalet Bakanlığı