In its 12th year, People Make The Brand invites you to a forum where critical strategies for fostering a psychologically safe work climate will be shared, and the relationship between trust and leadership, team dynamics, artificial intelligence, innovation, and sustainability will be discussed by business leaders, experts, and academics.
Nursel Ölmez Ateş
Group President of Human, Communication and Sustainability, Borusan Group
Business, Sustainability and Trust
Nursel Ölmez Ateş, continues her professional job career since 1995, after the graduation from Istanbul University, Industrial Engineering Department. She had started her career at Migros Türk T.A.Ş. as Method Organization and Planning Specialist and worked in different departments as New Business Development, R&D, Planning and Project Management. During that period, she implemented many innovative human resources projects. In 1999, while working in Migros, she acted as the Project Leader of the first application of SAP Human Resources Module in Turkey, and that project is ranked among the best practice applications of SAP.
In 2003, she is appointed as Deputy General Manager in charge of Human Resources and Administrative Affairs to Ramstore, one of the foreign operations of Migros. During her term of service of five years thereat, she played an active role in opening of more than 60 stores in different cities, and acted as a leader in establishment and operation of human resources systems therein. In 2007, she played an important role in election of Ramenka as the company with the most successful human resources practices in Russia.
After returning to Turkey in 2008, she continued her career as Human Resources and Corporate Communications Director first in Koçtaş, and then in Ford Otosan. During her term of office thereat, she worked actively not only on human resources transformation, but also on gender equality, and supporting education of girls in STEM fields, she built and led the “Honeybees Are Becoming Engineers” project.
Nursel Ölmez Ateş, Group President of Human, Communication and Sustainability, assumed the Sustainability Leadership of the Group, in order to create synergy between Group and company activities and thematic working groups.
In 2016 and 2017, in “50 Most Effective Human Resources Directors of Turkey” survey, she is elected as one of the 50 Most Effective CHROs of Turkey managing human resources most effectively and creating difference therein. Since 2013, she is serving as an executive coach as well.
Akan Abdula
Founder of FutureBright Group
Consumer Trust
With 17 years of experience in advertising, marketing strategy, brand management, and market research, he has served as Head of Strategy and Planning at Grey Istanbul and was one of 12 strategists on the global strategy council of Grey Group Worldwide. He has been a member of the Advertising Self-Regulation Board and a jury member for Kırmızı, Felis, and Effie Awards, earning multiple Golden Effies for Turkey’s best product launches and most impactful social responsibility campaigns. In 2012, he founded FutureBright and the Behavioral Institute, both now among Turkey’s fastest-growing companies, consulting over 400 brands. He also teaches Consumer Behavior at Bilgi University’s Brand School and, in 2016, established the ZMET Institute, becoming the ninth global partner of Olson Zaltman & Associates, a leader in mind science. His strategic approaches have been featured in the Daily Telegraph.
William Shih
Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
Supply Chain and Trust
Willy Shih is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration. He is part of the Technology and Operations Management Unit, and he teaches in the MBA and Executive Education Programs. His expertise is in manufacturing, product development, and supply chains, and he has written or co-authored numerous cases and teaching materials in industries ranging from semiconductors, information technology, consumer electronics, aerospace, transportation equipment, manufacturing processes and tools, and intellectual property.
Prior to coming to HBS in 2007, Willy spent 28 years in industry at IBM, Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics, Eastman Kodak, and Thomson SA. He worked in product development and manufacturing in a wide range of areas including computer systems, scientific instruments, semiconductors, digital cameras, optical discs and software systems. Reporting to him have been major manufacturing operations in the United States, China, Ireland, Japan, and Mexico, as well as global sales and marketing operations. He has led the building of billion dollar revenue businesses.
Bhaskar Chakravorti
Tufts University, The Fletcher School, Dean of Global Business and Professor of Practice
How shall we trust AI?
Bhaskar Chakravorti is the Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University – America’s oldest exclusively graduate school of global affairs — the founding Executive Director of Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context and founder and chair of Digital Planet, one of Fletcher’s flagship research programs that studies the impact of technology on lives and livelihoods around the world.
Bhaskar founded the Institute in 2011 with the mission of “connecting the world of business with the world,” exploring issues at the intersection of business and global context, including geopolitics, technology, security, development, the environment and the human condition. Bhaskar serves on the Fletcher faculty as Professor of the Practice of International Business and is the Chair of the IDEA Council: Imagining a Digital Economy for All. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board to the Mastercard Policy Center for the Digital Economy, served on the Global Future Council on Innovation for the World Economic Forum and is Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Senior Advisor for Digital Inclusion at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, an Advisory Board member for the Indian Institute of Public Policy and served on the Advisory Board of the UNDP’s Center for Private Sector in Development.
Prof. Dr. Evren Balta
TUSIAD Global Politics Forum Academic Coordinator
Trust in a world of uncertainty and polarization
Evren Balta holds a PhD from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and master's degrees from Columbia University and Middle East Technical University. She is currently a professor in the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University, a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and a researcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. Dr. Balta is frequently consulted for her insights in national media as well as international platforms such as BBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, and France 24. Her work focuses on democracy, citizenship, foreign policy, and security, examining these issues at the intersection of national and global developments. Dr. Balta is the Academic Coordinator of the TÜSİAD Global Politics Forum. She was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna by CUNY-The Graduate Center in 2018 and was awarded the Medicat Women of Impact Award in 2021. In the same year, she received one of the Best Book Awards from the American Sociological Association.
Ömer Dormen
Senior Partner of Klarendon Partners
Organizational & Team-based Trust
Ömer is an experienced C-suite leader with a strong track record spanning nearly four decades of top management experience in a major multinational company. His expertise spans deep in strategic customer relationship management, profit centre leadership, marketing, strategy and transformation. He is widely respected for his dynamism and versatility.
Throughout his career he has achieved breakthrough results and consistently delivered top quartile performance in diverse geographies and multicultural settings, from Turkey to the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, India, Europe and Africa.
As a key member of the global leadership team and many management boards, he has championed numerous global initiatives in sales, capability development, innovation, safety and governance. Throughout his career, he has excelled in leading transformative change and generating long-term value for the organizations while being people centric in his
management style. His strong communication skills have enabled him to foster enduring relationships with internal and external stakeholders, further amplifying his contribution to the businesses he’s served.
Ayşe Güçlü Onur
Egon Zehnder’s Istanbul Office Leader
Employee Employer Trust
yşe Güçlü Onur is the Office Leader of Egon Zehnder’s Istanbul office, where she also leads the firm’s Financial Services, Private Capital, and Financial Officers practices in Turkey. She is a trusted advisor on senior talent management for both Turkish and international clients and co-leads Egon Zehnder’s global Learning & Development Practice. Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Ayşe held leadership roles in strategy and business development at BNP Paribas JV in Istanbul and served as a Strategy Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton in New York and London. She holds an MBA from Duke University and a BA from Bosphorus University. Ayşe is a cofounder of Yenidenbiz, a social venture supporting women re-entering the workforce, and serves on the advisory council of Endeavor Turkey.
Beyhan Budak
Clinical Psychologist, Author
Self-Trust on Narcissism and Impostor Pendulum
After completing his undergraduate degree in Psychology at Istanbul University, Beyhan Budak pursued master's degrees in Clinical Psychology and Psychological Counseling. Following many years of work at a hospital affiliated with the Ministry of Health, he established his own psychotherapy center in Ankara, where he continues his practice. He has delivered over 500 talks on self-help, personal development, and motivation across Turkey, including TEDx talks titled “That Thing You Bought Is Not Happiness!” and “How Do People Change, How Don’t They?”. His books, Be Kind to Yourself, It's Not Your Fault, and Don’t Look for Happiness Where You Lost It, published in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively, have all made the bestseller list. His YouTube channel, where he shares videos on psychology and self-help topics, has approximately 2 million subscribers and over 150 million views.
C-Suite Talks
Murat Güreşçi
Çayeli Bakır General Manager
C-Suite Talk
Murat Güreşçi, born in 1976 in Ordu and raised in Ankara, graduated with a degree in Mining Engineering from Hacettepe University in 1999.
He started his career at Çayeli Bakır İşletmeleri AŞ in 2003, where he worked in various engineering, operations, and managerial positions. In 2018, he was appointed as the General Manager and continues to hold this position.
Murat Güreşçi is also a board member of Çayeli Bakır and is responsible for implementing First Quantum Minerals’ strategies and goals in Türkiye.
Nazlı Tlabar Güler
CHRO, Vodafone
C-Suite Talk
Nazli Tlabar Guler joined Vodafone Turkey as Human Resources Director in September 2022. Nazlı has more than 20 years of experience in human resources and started her career in AVEA where she held talent management & development and HR business partner roles.
In 2011, she moved to HSBC where she worked in HR business partnership and organizational development teams before being appointed Head of Performance, Reward and Employee Relations. In 2018, she moved to Cigna Turkey, where she worked as Human Resources and Process & Programme Management Assistant General Manager.
Nazlı holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Işık University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational and Social Psychology from the London School of Economics. She is an Independent Board Member at ENKA, in addition to her role at Vodafone Turkey.
Curation & Moderation
EVRİM KURAN
Evrim Kuran Consulting, Founder - Universum, Country Leader
Kuran has a BA in English Language & Literature at Hacettepe University and an Executive MBA degree at Sabancı University. She studied Behavioral Economics, Culture of Innovation and Design Thinking at Harvard Business School where she received a Certificate of Management Excellence. Since 2000, Evrim Kuran has been conducting generational research, organizational attractiveness, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) studies, and reverse mentoring programs.
Kuran has worked with many local and global employer brands. She is the Country Leader for Türkiye of world’s leading employer branding research and consulting company, Universum. She is also the creator and the curator of People Make the Brand conferences since 2013. Kuran is a Board Member of YetGen Coop – an initiative focusing on developing 21st century skills for youth, an Advisory Board member of People Management Association of Türkiye (PERYON), Sabancı School of Management, KAGİDER, TEVİTÖL and LEAD Network Türkiye, as well as a member of Global Relations Forum (GRF). Evrim Kuran teaches Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at MEF University. She is also an Independent Board Member at Mondelez International Türkiye.
Besides her career as a consultant, she is also a keynote speaker and a columnist and her articles are published at certain national and global publications and portals. She is also the author of four books, Telgraftan Tablete (From Telegram to Tablet) in which she wrote about the five generations of Türkiye, Z: Bir Kuşağı Anlamak (Z: Understanding a Generation) which scrutinizes generation Z through various research findings, Onlar Göçtü Buradan (They Moved From Here) in which Kuran focuses on the brain drain among the new generations of Türkiye and Başarılı Bir Kadın Olduğum için Özür Dilerim (Sorry For Being a Successful Woman) which covers her research on impostor phenomenon.
SERDAR TURAN
Harvard Business Review Türkiye, Editor in Chief
Having completed his master’s degree in business administration after an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, Serdar Turan became a co-founder of Infomag Yayıncılık in 2000.
He has been leading the teams publishing Turkish editions of Businessweek since November 2005 and Harvard Business Review since October 2012. At the moment, he is the chief editor of both Harvard Business Review Türkiye and Bloomberg Businessweek Türkiye.
Turkish-English simultaneous translation will be provided throughout the sessions.