President of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA)
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport
Dr. Ali Taha Koç
The Head of Digital Transformation Office and the Government Chief Information Officer
Dr. Alparslan Bayraktar
Chairman of the Board
Alparslan BAYRAKTAR
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey (MENR)
Alparslan Bayraktar serves as the Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. Prior to assuming this post, he was the Deputy Undersecretary of MENR following his service as the General Director of International Affairs and European Union. Between 2010-2016, Mr. Bayraktar served as a Commissioner of Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey. Before his public service, he worked for the private sector in Turkey and abroad.
Mr. Bayraktar also holds positions in various international organizations involved in issues relating to energy governance. He served as the Chairman of International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER) and Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA). Currently, he is the Chairman of World Energy Council Turkey.
Mr. Bayraktar holds B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, LL.M. in Law and Economics from Bilkent University and M.A. in International Relations from Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. He received his Ph.D. in Energy, Environmental Economics & Policy from Middle East Technical University.
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca
Rector of Istanbul Technical University
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca, born in Istanbul in 1957, graduated from the Department of Meteorology Engineering of Istanbul Technical University in 1971 and received his first MSc degree in 1981 from the same department. Prof. Karaca received his second master and doctorate degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1985 and 1990 respectively. Karaca has had an active role in the administration of ITU as he has held different academic and administrative positions throughout his career. He was the Vice Dean at the Graduate School of Science Engineering and Technology between 1993-1995 and acted as a member of the execution committee for Tubitak-Çaydağ between 2001-2007. Positions held by Prof. Karaca also include the post of Dean at the Graduate School of Science Engineering and Technology between 2002-2004 and Vice Rector of ITU between the years of 2008-2010, founder Rector of ITU-KKTC between 20019-2010. Karaca has been holding various board memberships in Tubitak, academic consultancy for National Geographic-Turkey and he is a member of the commission for the Elginkan Foundation Science and Technology award. Prof. Karaca’s research areas include atmospheric and oceanic modeling; climate change, paleooceanography, paleoclimatology, disaster management and air quality modeling. His scientific research on these areas appeared in over 30 international and national journals in addition to chapters published in 6 edited books. Karaca is also a member of American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, National Geographical Society, World Wildlife Fund in Turkey.
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca has been appointed as the Rector of Istanbul Technical University (ITU) since 2012 and has been appointed as a member of the executive board of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in 2018.
Mustafa Yılmaz
President of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA)
Mustafa Yilmaz was born in 1966 in Nizip, Gaziantep.
Following his secondary education at Nizip, he earned bachelor of law degree from the Istanbul University in 1988.
He started his career as a freelance lawyer in 1989 in Istanbul, and served to the energy sector as a lawyer between 1993 and 2004. During this period, he contributed to the works of some NGOs.
Mustafa Yilmaz was appointed as board member of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) on 21 February 2004. Having been appointed as the Second President on 28 January 2010, he carried out his duty until he was assigned as the President of EMRA on 20 February 2014. Mustafa Yilmaz was reappointed as the President of EMRA second time, on 1 March 2016.
Under his presidency, international activities of EMRA were accelerated. Consequently, the 6th World Forum on Energy Regulation which was hosted by EMRA and was organized under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey in May 2015, and EMRA became active members of both Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) and Mediterranean Energy Regulators Association (MEDREG). Most recent outcome of EMRA’s efforts under Mustafa Yilmaz’s leadership is the election of a woman bureaucrat of EMRA as MEDREG President.
Mustafa Yilmaz is serving as the ERRA Presidium member since 2016.
He speaks English and I married with 3 children.
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan was born in İstanbul on 10 June 1977.
Starting his career in İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 1995, Dr. Sayan worked in private companies in Turkey, Germany and USA in the fields of chip manufacturing, cell phone design and R&D after receiving his Bachelor’s Degree.
He carried out studies in entrepreneurship by working under the initiative of Silicon Valley and he gave lectures on Informatics Law and New Trends in ICT in various universities in Turkey and Germany.
He established Istanbul-Turkey Local Committee of Electrical Engineering Students' European Association (EESTEC). He is a member of IEEE and member of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO) Ankara Branch. He served as the Chairman of the Turkish-German Friendship Delegation at Osnabrück, Germany and as the Chairman of Türkische Gesprachskreis. He was the Vice President of Mimar Sinan Association and member of the Supervisory Board. He participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meetings as the Head of Turkish delegation. He served as the Vice Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). He was the convener of the Artificial Intelligence Turkey Conference. Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan is also the Chairman of National Computer Emergency Response Team (TR-CERT-USOM) and the Chairman of the 5GTR Forum
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan has several articles published in various scientific journals and conferences.
He worked as Adviser and Chief Adviser for the Prime Minister between the years 2007-2014.
He was appointed as the Member of the Board at the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) in January 2014. He has worked as the Chairman of the Board & President of ICTA from August 2015 to July 2018.
He has been assigned as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure on 21 July 2018. Along with his position as Deputy Minister, Dr. Sayan has also been appointed as the Member of the Board of Directors and the Vice President of Türk Telekom on 5 September 2018. He has been assigned as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Türk Telekom on 22 December 2018.
He is married and father of 2. He speaks English, German and French.
Dr. Ali Taha Koç
The Head of Digital Transformation Office and the Government Chief Information Officer
Dr. Ali Taha Koç, was appointed as the Head of Digital Transformation Office and the Government Chief Information Officer in Sept 2018. Prior to this position, he served as the Head of Information Technologies between 2014 and 2018 and at the same time acted as the Head of the Security Policies Department at the Presidency of Turkey Dr Koç started his career in the Turkish government as the Chief Technology Adviser to the Prime Minister in 2014. In addition to his duties at the Presidency, he has been a board member for Turksat Satellite Communications & Cable TV Business Inc. since 2014.
Before he joined the government, Dr Koç was a research and development (R&D) engineer at Intel in the US from 2005 to 2014. During his tenure at Intel, he developed 61 patents, published 23 scientific articles, and developed and managed several international projects. In 2013, Intel awarded Dr Koç for being one of the top 10 patent inventors in the company.
Dr. Koç got his MSci and PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. He also teaches graduate courses at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University.