Sustainability Governance at Şişecam

Prof Dr Ahmet Kirman graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Law. He had his master’s degree in EU Competition Law and Ph.D. in Commercial Law from the same institution, becoming an Associate Professor and then Professor of Financial Law. Prof Dr Kirman served as Faculty Member, Division Head, Head of the Finance Department and Institute Director at Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science. He was also a Faculty Member at Galatasaray University, Faculty of Law and continues to give lectures to postgraduate students at the same university. Prof Dr Kirman started his professional career in 1981 as a judge for the Council of State. Subsequently, he joined Türkiye İş Bankası A.Ş. where he held various positions in banking and insurance. He served as the Chairman of Türkiye İş Bankası A.Ş., Milli Reasürans T.A.Ş., Destek Reasürans A.Ş., and Petrol Ofisi A.Ş., and Board Member at several other major companies including Anadolu Sigorta A.Ş. During his period as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at İşbank, he was also chairman of the Audit Committee and served on the Inspection Board.

At Türkiye Şişe ve Cam Fabrikaları A.Ş., Prof Dr Kirman has served as the Chairman and fully authorized Executive Member from 2006 to 2011, Vice Chairman and CEO from 2011 to 2021, Chairman and CEO from 30 March 2021 to 1 July 2021; and Chairman as from 1 July 2021. At the General Assembly meeting held on March 28, 2022, Prof Dr Kirman was appointed as the Chairman and Executive Member of the Board. He has also served as the Chairman of Soda San. A.Ş., Trakya Cam San. A.Ş., Anadolu Cam San. A.Ş. and Paşabahçe Cam San. Tic. A.Ş. from 2011 to 30 September 2020, until these four main listed subsidiaries were merged under Şişecam. In addition to his position as the Chairman and Executive Member of the Board of Şişecam, he continues to serve as the Chairman of several Group companies based in Russia, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

In recognition of his outstanding lifetime contributions to the glass science and technology, encouraging the exchange of knowledge and promotion of domestic and international glass community, Prof Dr Kirman was honored with the “President’s Award” by the International Commission on Glass (ICG), which is the most reputable and recognized world-wide organization in the field of glass with representatives from 33 countries. Prof Dr Kirman has been awarded with the honor of “Cavaliere” of “the Order of the Star of Italy,” nominated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and bestowed by the President of the Italian Republic, for his contributions to the strengthening of economic bilateral relations and mutual investments between Italy and Turkey. Prof Dr Kirman has also been honored by the President of Tatarstan with the “Medal of Valorous Labor” in recognition of his valuable contributions to the development of investments and economic cooperation with Tatarstan. He has been honored with the “Medal of Appreciation” due to his contributions to the economic development of the Targovishte Region in Bulgaria. He was also awarded the “Chairman of the Year” at the Le Fonti Awards, the award platform of Italy's one of leading economics media organizations Le Fonti for Şişecam's innovation and sustainability-focused global achievements. Lastly Cavaliere Prof Dr Kirman, is elected The Glass Person of the Year 2023 by the Phoenix Award Committee for his long-term, significant, and valuable contributions to global glass industry.

Prof Dr Kirman has served as the Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors at ICC and was also a Member of TEPAV’s Board of Trustees and Board of Directors, along with BTHE and IAV’s Board of Directors. He served as a Member of the Board of Directors and Committee of Legal Affairs at the Turkish Shooting and Hunting Federation. He also participated in numerous specific training programs particularly including Banking & Financials, The Fundamentals of International Finance & Advanced Aspects of International Finance 1997, Queen Mary and Westfield College of London, Finance for Lawyers, International Taxation & Offshore Financial Planning. Prof Dr Kirman has authored 12 books along with various scholarly articles and has been invited as a keynote speaker at numerous scientific as well as business events. Involved in parachuting and shooting sports, Prof Dr Kirman won the gold medal in shooting in the 1978 Balkan Championship. He created an aviation history section for the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, İstanbul in the context of his scaled model hobby. His models continue to be on display in accordance with the living museum approach.

Gül Ayşem Sargın graduated from the Economics Department, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at the Middle East Technical University in 1992. She embarked on her career at the Financial Markets Department of Turk Eximbank. From 1997 to 2010, she served as a Senior Financial Advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Ankara. In this role, she worked on strengthening the U.S.-Turkey investment and trade relations, with a particular focus on energy, aviation, healthcare and telecommunications industries. Gül Ayşem Sargın worked as the External Affairs Manager for British Petroleum (BP) Turkey, and Government Affairs and Policy Director for General Electric (GE) in Turkey, respectively from 2010 to 2012 and from 2012 to 2015. Ms. Sargın has been acting as the Managing Director and Country Representative for Boeing Turkey since September 2015. Also a member of the Board of Trustees at TED İstanbul College, Ms. Sargın has been officiating as a member of the Board of Directors at American Business Forum in Turkey (AmCham) since 2017; member of the Board of Directors at the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEİK) since February 2019; and Chairperson of International Investors Association of Turkey (YASED). Gül Ayşem Sargın was elected as a member of the Board of Directors at Türkiye Şişe ve Cam Fabrikaları A.Ş. at the Ordinary General Assembly on March 30, 2021.

Ahu Serter graduated from Bilkent University, Business Administration Department in 1996 and received her MBA in Investment Management from Pace University in 2000. Ms. Serter worked as a fund manager in international capital markets throughout her career on Wall Street. Returning to Turkey in 2002, she served as CFO at Farplas Automotive and became the President of the company in 2012. During her tenure at Farplas, Ms. Serter consolidated the group companies under Fark Holding, established new profitable business lines, and actively encouraged intrapreneurship across the organization. She currently serves as the President of Fark Holding and is also the founder of Arya Women Investment Platform. Ahu Serter established Fark Labs, a global innovation center, in 2019 to transform the startup ecosystem and to support and invest in innovation. Experienced in strategic alliances, mergers, and acquisitions, Ms. Serter has served on the boards of global automotive companies such as Mahle-Farplas and Farhym Automotive. She still serves on the boards of TTGV (Technology Development Foundation of Turkiye) and TAIDER (Family Business Association, an affiliate of Family Business Network) and leads the innovation initiatives of these organizations. Ms. Serter serves on the boards of numerous technology startups, including Mata Automotive, Wirthwein-Farel, as well as DUCKT, Comodif, and Buyutech. She is also a member of Galata Business Angels and Endeavor Turkey. Ahu Serter was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of Türkiye Şişe ve Cam Fabrikaları A.Ş. at the Ordinary General Assembly held on March 28, 2022.

Can Yücel graduated from Middle East Technical University (METU), Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Economics in 1999. Post-graduation, he joined İşbank as an Intern - Assistant Inspector with the Board of Inspectors. During his tenure at İşbank, Mr. Yücel became Assistant Manager in the SME Loans Allocation Department in 2008 and Assistant Manager in the Corporate Loans Allocation Department in 2009. He went on to become Unit Manager in 2011, and then Manager in İşbank’s Corporate Loans Allocation Department. Can Yücel was appointed Manager of the Başkent Corporate Branch/Ankara in 2020 and Deputy CEO at İşbank on August 26, 2021. Mr. Yücel has been a Member of the Board of Directors at Türkiye Şişe ve Cam Fabrikaları A.Ş. since January 3, 2022.

After graduating from TED Ankara College in 1992, Görkem Elverici completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Middle East Technical University in 1996. He went on to obtain his MBA from Bilkent University in 1998. In 2015, Elverici completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He is currently working on his Ph.D. dissertation in Banking-Finance at Kadir Has University. He began his professional career at İşbank in 1998. Throughout his career, Elverici served in various middle and senior management positions at İşbank, HSBC Turkey, Deloitte Consulting, and Accenture Consulting. Elverici joined Şişecam on March 01, 2013, as the Financial Affairs Director of the Flat Glass Group. He served as Şişecam's Chief Financial Officer from May 2014 to July 2021 and was appointed as Şişecam CEO as of July 1, 2021.

Burak Büyükfırat graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Civil Engineering Department in 1989 and obtained his MBA degree from Oregon State University in 1991. Following graduation, he started his career at Kabelwerk Wagner GmbH & Co KG in Germany as an Investments Specialist. He joined Sabancı Holding and worked as Commercial Affairs Specialist, Marketing & Planning Manager, Strategy & Development Manager and Executive Committee Secretary at Sabancı Cement Group and Akçansa A.Ş. from 1994 to 2000. He continued his career as a turnaround and restructuring executive in companies operating in packaging, casting, mechanical contracting, energy, and steel industries from 2001 to 2010. Büyükfırat served as Marketing and Sales Director at Erdemir A.Ş., CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Erdemir Çelik Servis Merkezi A.Ş., Board Member at Erdemir Romania S.R.L., CEO at Erdemir Engineering A.Ş., Group Technology Coordinator at Erdemir A.Ş., Executive Board Member at Chemson AG Austria and Board Member at Akdeniz Kimya between 2010 and 2017. Starting from 2017, he engaged in consultancy services and joined Şişecam as an advisor to “production technologies restructuring” project under “One Şişecam” in 2021. As of February 1, 2024, Mr. Büyükfırat was appointed as Şişecam's Chief Research, Development and Quality Officer.

Şengül Arslan graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1997 and obtained her Master’s degree from the Executive MBA Program at Boğaziçi University. Arslan started her professional career as a Management Consultant at Arthur Andersen. She then worked as Human Resources Management Consulting Manager at Ernst & Young from 2002 to 2004. Arslan served as Human Resources and Organizational Development Manager at Danone Tikveşli between 2004 and 2007; Assistant General Manager of Avea Human Resources from 2007 until 2011; Assistant General Manager in charge of Human Resources at HSBC Bank and HSBC Global Human Resources Transformation Change Leader between 2011 and 2017. As of March 2017, she joined Şişecam upon being appointed as Chief Human Resources Officer; additionally, she managed the Corporate Communications function from 2017 to 2020. Following the One Şişecam merger, all the HR functions were centralized in early 2021. Since that time, Arslan has been responsible for managing the global HR function, and also central management of supporting functions other than core human resources processes, such as industrial relations, occupational health and safety, administrative affairs and security.

Dr. Selma Öner graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1995 and received her Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Boğaziçi University. She completed the General Management program at Harvard Business School in 2014. Ms. Öner started her professional career as a Research Assistant at Boğaziçi University and then joined Şişecam in 1997. She initially worked as Logistics Engineer at Paşabahçe Cam San. ve Tic. A.Ş. and later served in various managerial positions there before becoming Supply Chain Director at Trakya Cam A.Ş. Dr. Öner was appointed as Şişecam Procurement Coordinator in 2017 and as Şişecam Chief Procurement Officer in January 2018. As of July 1, 2021, Dr. Öner has served as Şişecam Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Beytullah Şahin graduated from Akdeniz University, Department of Mining Engineering in 1995. From 1996 to 1998, he worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Mineral Processing and Beneficiation at Middle East Technical University and obtained his master's degree in the same field. Subsequently, he completed various executive training programs including Leadership Academy Baltas, Stanford University Strategic Marketing, and INSEAD Executive Leadership Program. In 1998, Şahin started work as an Operations Engineer at the Mersin Plant of Trakya Cam Sanayii A.Ş. He served as Procurement and Material Planning Chief in 2004 and as Material Management and Production Planning Manager in 2009 at the same facility. Şahin was appointed as the General Manager of Trakya Glass Rus AO Russia Flat Glass Plant in 2012. He went on to become the General Manager of Şişecam Flat Glass Italy S.R.L. Northern Italy Flat Glass Plant in 2017. While there, he managed the commissioning and integration processes of the Şişecam Flat Glass South Italy S.R.L. Flat Glass Plant, which was acquired in the same period. In 2021, Şahin was appointed as the Architectural Glass Senior Production Director. The following year, he became Senior Production Director for European Operations. He oversaw the management and integration processes of the REFEL SpA Refractory Production Plant, which was purchased in the same period. Mr. Şahin was appointed as Şişecam Chief Production Officer as of March 1, 2024.

Gökhan Kıpçak graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University and received his Master’s degree from the Faculty of Business Administration, Department of Industrial Engineering of the same university. Kıpçak started his career as IT Expert for Sales and Production Systems at ECA in 1988, after which he served as IT Manager for Sales Systems at Coca-Cola between 1991 and 1998. He worked as IT Manager in South Korea between 1998 and 2000, SAP Program Manager between 2000 and 2007, and Chief Information Officer and Executive Board Member between 2007 and 2018 at Coca-Cola İçecek. In 2017, he was also appointed as Transformation Director at Coca-Cola İçecek. Mr. Kıpçak joined Şişecam on May 20, 2019, as Chief Information Officer. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Ebru Şapoğlu graduated from the Department Economics in English at Istanbul University, and she started her career at Flat Glass Group in Şişecam. She completed the Leading in a Global World Program organized by the academic cooperation of Boğaziçi University and The University of Texas, and the Executive Leadership Program organized by the cooperation of Şişecam and INSEAD. Since she started working at Flat Glass Group, she has taken responsibility in different functions of the company, including marketing, sales, business and market development projects. She was appointed as Chief Marketing and Sales Officer in 2016 and Senior Sales and Marketing Director (Flat Glass) in July 2021. As of January 1, 2022, Şapoğlu officiates as Şişecam Chief Sales Officer. ​

Gökhan Güralp completed his undergraduate education in the Department of Business Administration (English) at Marmara University in 1999 and started his professional career at Ernst & Young in 1999. Güralp worked as Assistant Auditor at Ernst & Young from 1999 to 2002 and as Auditor from 2002 to 2003, Financial Affairs Manager at Bechtel Enka from 2003 to 2004, Audit Manager at Ernst & Young from 2004 to 2007, and as Audit Manager at Ernst & Young Moscow from 2007 to 2008. After serving as a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young Istanbul from 2008 to 2011, Güralp worked as Budget, Strategic Planning and Reporting Manager at Eti Gıda Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş. from 2011 to 2014. He simultaneously served as Finance Director and Member of the Board of Directors at Eti Romania SRL from 2013 to 2014. Güralp worked as Internal Audit Manager at Zorlu Holding A.Ş. from 2014 to 2015. He joined Şişecam and served as Financial Control and Reporting Group Manager from November 2015 to January 2016. He was appointed as Financial Analysis and Financial Control Director in January 2016. As of July 1, 2021, Mr. Güralp assumed the position of Şişecam Chief Financial Officer.