Prof. Dr. EVRİM AKDOĞU

Faculty Member, Sabancı University

Prof. Dr. Akdoğu is an Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Management at Sabancı University. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Linfield College in Oregon in 1997, with a double major in mathematics and international business, followed by a Ph.D. degree in finance from Washington University in St. Louis in 2003. After finishing her doctoral studies, she started her career as an Assistant Professor of Finance in Southern Methodist University in the U.S. In 2008, she decided to continue her academic career in Turkey and joined Koç University. Since 2012, she has been a member of School of Management in Sabancı University. She is currently teaching Principles of Finance and Corporate Finance at both undergraduate and post-graduate programs.

Prof. Dr. Akdoğu has a number of theoretical and empirical scholarly publications on corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and corporate investments. These studies have been published in internationally recognized high quality journals including Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Banking and Finance and Journal of Corporate Finance.

Prof. Dr. YİĞİT ATILGAN

Faculty Member, Sabancı University

Professor Atılgan received his BA in Management from Boğaziçi University in 2003, his MS in Finance from University of Rochester in 2005 and his PhD in Finance from City University of New York in 2010. In the same year, he joined Sabancı Business School. In 2015 and 2021, he earned the titles of Associate Professor and Full Professor, respectively.

Professor Atılgan's research interests include determinants of equity returns, derivative markets, fixed-income instruments and asset pricing in emerging markets. His research has been published in various academic journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Banking and Finance and Journal of Business & Economic Statistics among others. He has also co-authored a book on risks and returns of investing in hedge funds published by Academic Press (Elsevier).

Professor Atılgan teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on investments, portfolio theory, derivative instruments, fixed-income analytics and corporate valuation. He is also a CFA charterholder.

RU CEYLAN

Painter, Art and Creative Economies Specialist, Multidisciplinary Artist

Born in 1984 in Düzce, Turkey, Ru Ceylan (Ebru Ceylan) is a painter, art economist, and creative economies specialist who unites artistic creativity with scientific research. After completing her primary and secondary education in Bursa, she studied computer engineering and tax auditing at Dumlupınar University, and economics at Anadolu University. She later continued her academic journey in England, participating in advanced programs in art economics at the University of Cambridge.

Strengthening her expertise in art economics and creative economies through art-centered business development projects and research, Ceylan has been producing with an interdisciplinary perspective for many years. Throughout her career, she has explored the impact of art on individuals and society, discovering innovative fields of contemporary art through both academic and artistic practices.

She held her first solo exhibition during her university years and launched her first professional exhibition series, “Talking Paintings”, in 2015. This pioneering project further evolved into “Talking Paintings: Literary – Eternal”, the first exhibition in Turkey to integrate audio descriptions. In this series, the stories behind the paintings were narrated by various artists, bringing literature and visual art together. The project reached a wide audience across 12 cities in Turkey. Audio recordings of the paintings’ stories were compiled into an album, the proceeds of which were donated to TEMA Foundation. The album was streamed by nearly 10 million listeners.

On February 21, 2020, Ru Ceylan inaugurated Samsara, the first step of the multidisciplinary art platform she had been developing for years. In this exhibition, she introduced the concept of Neuroart for the first time in the world. Using brain imaging devices and eye-tracking technologies, visitors were offered an interactive experience while the effects of art on human perception and emotions were scientifically measured. The central question of the exhibition was: “Can art change human beings?” The results of this research scientifically proved that art transforms individuals, marking a groundbreaking contribution in the field.

For her pioneering approach and contributions to society, Ceylan was honored with the Innovation Award and the Benefit to Society Award at the 2021 Baykuş Awards by the Turkish Researchers Association. She continues to develop the Samsara project and carries on her interdisciplinary works that unite art, science, and society.

Today, Ru Ceylan is recognized as one of the innovative voices in contemporary Turkish art, combining her expertise in art and creative economies with her artistic practice. Through her works, she emphasizes storytelling, human experience, and the transformative essence of creativity. Her artistic vision reveals that art is not merely an aesthetic expression but also a powerful tool for individual and social transformation.

Prof. Dr. ASWATH DAMODARAN

Kerschner Family Chair Professor of Finance, New York University

Aswath Damodaran is the Kerschner Family Chair Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. He teaches the corporate finance and valuation courses in the MBA program. He received his MBA and Ph.D from the University of California at Los Angeles. His research interests lie in valuation, portfolio management and applied corporate finance. He has published in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics and the Review of Financial Studies.

He has written four books on valuation (Damodaran on Valuation, Investment Valuation, The Dark Side of Valuation, The Little Book of Valuation), and two on corporate finance (Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice, Applied Corporate Finance: A User’s Manual). He has co-edited a book on investment management with Peter Bernstein (Investment Management), has a book on investment philosophies (Investment Philosophies) and one on “can’t miss” investment strategies, titled Investment Fables. He also has a book on the relationship between risk and value, Strategic Risk Taking, which takes a big picture view of how risk management affects value.

Aswath was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1984 to 1986, where he received the Earl Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award in 1985. He has been at NYU since 1986, received the Stern School of Business Excellence in Teaching Award (awarded by the graduating class) in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2013, and was the youngest winner of the University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award (in 1990). He was as one of the top twelve business school professors in the United States in 1994 and was in the US by MBA students across the country in a 2011 survey by Business Week. In 2012, he was chosen as one of the in the world by Poets and Quants, and his blog, Musings on Markets, was as one of the top ten stock market blogs in the world.

Prof. Dr. ÖZGÜR DEMİRTAŞ

Chair Professor of Finance, Sabancı University

Özgür Demirtaş was born in Ankara, Turkey. He got his BS degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Boğazici University in 1998. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Finance from Boston College in 2003. In the same year, he was appointed as a tenure track Assistant Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York. In 2004, he was elected as the best instructor within the Finance Department of the college. In 2005, he was elected as the best instructor within all the departments of the business school. In 2007, he was awarded with one of the prestigious medals of the University: The Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence. He earned a tenured Associate Professor position in the same year. In 2010, he was ranked within the top 20 list among more than one million professors evaluated by 10 million students in USA, Canada, England, and Scotland. He also taught classes at the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business and he earned the highest evaluations in the finance department.

His academic work has been published in various academic journals. He published more than 35 academic articles in leading journals such as Management Science, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, and Journal of Business & Economic Statistics. He also published a book about hedge funds by Academic Press. His research has been rewarded by the City University of New York for six consecutive years. In 2012, he joined Sabanci University as a Chair Professor of Finance and achieved to be Marie-Curie Research fellow.

Prof. Özgür Demirtaş is a Founding Chairman of the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) at Sabanci University. He is a Board Member of Akbank, one of the leading banks of Turkey. He was also a Founding Board member of Turkey’s first Financial Literacy and Savings Association (FODER). He has been a consultant for several business organizations. He frequently acts as a chief advisor to large corporations and conglomerates. He develops risk management software for the insurance industry. He is one of the leading keynote speakers to leading corporations and he joins think tank organizations with leading policymakers to emphasize the importance of economic and financial development. He is also an angel investor particularly interested in biotech sector.

CRISTINA DOLAN

Founder/CEO, InsideChains

Cristina Dolan is an American businesswoman, engineer, internet pioneer, blockchain entrepreneur, author, and MIT Media Lab alumna. Her book, Transparency in ESG and the Circular Economy, was recently released globally by the publisher.

Currently, Dolan serves as the Global Head of Alliances for a leading cybersecurity firm and is an advisor and director to several leading technology companies.  As an entrepreneur, she has been a founder and co-founder of several companies utilizing blockchain and data including Additum, which utilizes blockchain for value-based healthcare. After a decade leading product management for data for an institutional financial trading platform, she co-founded several companies focused on fintech, open banking, insurtech and cyber.  She was a Co-Founder of OneMain.com, which grew to be the 10th largest ISP after a successful IPO (Acquired by Earthlink). In the early internet days, she was head of technology on the founding teams for Hearst HomeArts and Disney. In addition to executive roles at IBM and Oracle, Cristina was CEO of venture backed Wordstream.  Dream it. Code it. Win it., which she founded in October 2013 to encourage students to pursue computer science and engineering, has won numerous prestigious awards and is the subject of a TED Talk, Just Solve It.

Dr. MAHFİ EĞİLMEZ

Economist, Academician, Author

Dr. Mahfi Egilmez was born in Istanbul. He received his bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, and his doctorate degree in public finance from Gazi University.

He started to work as a Inspector of Finance in the public sector. He served at all management levels in the Treasury as head of department, deputy general manager, general manager, deputy undersecretary and undersecretary. While he was Undersecretary of the Treasury, he left the public sector and moved to the private sector. During his duties at the Treasury, he served as the Governor of the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on behalf of Turkey. He served as chairman and member of the board of directors of various financial institutions in the private sector. He wrote columns for Yeni Yüzyıl and Radikal newspapers, gave lectures at Istanbul Bilgi University, Kadir Has University and Altınbaş University, and worked as a consultant and economic commentator on CNBCe and NTV televisions.

His work on the Hittites is published in two books of short stories and an economic history book. Egilmez also has three detective novels, Inferis, Sahte Sultan and Fon.

He is currently sharing his works in his blog (www.mahfiegilmez.com)

Mahfi Egilmez has 26 published books and numerous articles on various journals and newspapers.

Assoc. Prof. ARZU GİRİŞKEN

Founder – corpEQ, Academician

Assoc. Prof. Arzu Girişken completed her MBA at Istanbul Bilgi University and combined her strategic management experience gained in the banking and energy sectors with her academic expertise, focusing on the field of organizational development.

As an academic, she currently teaches management courses in the MBA program at Istanbul Bilgi University.

In addition, she serves as the founding director of the Final GİNOVA Entrepreneurship and Neuroscience Center, established in cooperation with Final International University and GİKAD in Northern Cyprus. She pioneered the establishment of the world’s first applied neuro-entrepreneurship center, where she continues to lead, deliver entrepreneurship education programs, and lecture.

Specializing in Behavioral Management since her doctoral studies, Girişken has developed comprehensive training programs for organizations in Türkiye. Through her company, CorpEQ, she translates this expertise into the business world by providing organizations with strategic training and consultancy.

Together with Prof. Dan Ariely, she conducts joint projects on behavioral and decision sciences, focusing on emotional intelligence–based leadership, cultural intelligence, organizational transformation, cognitive biases, and decision-making processes.

She also develops neuro-data–driven management models through neuroscience-supported approaches and conducts measurements on employee engagement, leadership, and organizational culture.

At the intersection of behavioral science and the arts, Girişken has also worked as the founding coordinator of the Samsara Behavioral Arts Academy, leading interdisciplinary projects.

She is the author of Corporate EQ: Understanding Emotions in Management, one of the first English-language resources focusing on corporate emotional memory.

Committed to contributing to the entrepreneurship ecosystem, Girişken actively serves on platforms such as GEN Türkiye, Habitat Association, and GİKAD, while mentoring across numerous NGOs. She is also the founder and moderator of event series such as “Value Creators” and the “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conferences.”

With her integrated approach to cultural intelligence, emotional resilience, leadership, and behavioral transformation, Girişken continues to guide organizations on their people-centered transformation journeys.

Assoc. Prof. DORUK GÜNAYDIN

Faculty Member, Sabancı University

Assoc. Prof. Günaydın received his BS in Electronics Engineering from Sabanci University in 2009, his MS in Mathematical Finance from Boston University in 2010 and his PhD in Finance from Sabanci University in 2016. Upon finishing his doctoral studies, he joined Sabanci Business School. He earned the title of Associate Professor in 2023.

Assoc. Prof. Günaydın’s research interests include asset pricing in international markets, determinants of stock returns, household finance and downside risk. His previous research has been published in various prestigious journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of International Money and Finance.

Since joining Sabanci University, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses on investments, fixed-income analytics, portfolio theory, financial management and corporate valuation.

Dr. İMRAN EMRE KARAGÖZLÜ

Group Treasury Manager at Coca-Cola İçecek

Dr. İmran Emre Karagözlü, who completed his undergraduate education at Boğaziçi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Economics in 2003, earned his master's degree at Marmara University Social Sciences Institute International Economics Program in 2007.

He received his doctorate degree in the Economic Policy program at Marmara University Social Sciences Institute in 2016. Between 2017 and 2021, he taught Accounting and Financial Management, Microeconomics and Introduction to Economics at Istinye University Institute of Social Sciences and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He has been working professionally as a manager in financial reporting and treasury departments since 2003. He currently works as Group Treasury Manager at Coca-Cola İçecek and continues to serve as a Founding Board Member at the Corporate Treasury Managers’ Association.

ATTİLA KÖKSAL

CFA

Attila Köksal, CFA completed his high school education at Istanbul Erkek Lisesi and graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Boğaziçi University in 1983. In 1985, he received an MBA degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Köksal began his investment banking career at the Center for International Financial Research Inc. in Princeton. He subsequently held executive positions at Saudi American Bank, Tacirler Securities, Inter Yatırım, Inter Portföy, and Demir Yatırım. From 2002 to 2020, he served as CEO and later as a board member at Ünlü Securities. Between 2011 and 2014, he was Chairman of the Board of the Turkish Capital Markets Association and has served on the boards of Borsa Istanbul and the Derivatives Exchange of Turkey. Köksal, who earned his CFA charter in 1997, held various local and global roles at the CFA Institute between 2000 and 2020, and served on the board of governors for six years.

Köksal currently serves as a board member at Turkish Dijital Teknolojiler A.Ş., a subsidiary of Turkish Bank, as well as at Kıbrıs Türk Sigorta and Marshall Boya ve Vernik Sanayii A.Ş. Since 2022, he has been a member of the advisory board of the Habitat Association. In the past, he was a board member at WWF Turkey and served as Chairman of the Board of the Financial Literacy and Inclusion Association (FODER).

Since 2019, Köksal has been teaching Behavioral Finance courses at Sabancı University. He is the author of four books on digital financial literacy and behavioral finance:

• Investing in the Future – Saving and Investment Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders
• Investing in the Future – Saving and Investment Advice for Families
• The Mistakes We Make About Money
• Investing in the Digital Age

TURAN SERT

Researcher, Writer

Turan Sert has been active in the finance and technology space for over two decades. His previous business experience includes, audit (Arthur Andersen), investment banking (Garanti Bank), management consulting (Booz Allen), investment management (Fiba Holding), and operations (Ozyegin University) as well as entrepreneurship in a technology startup.

He has been focusing on blockchain space over the last seven years and authored three books; 'Sorularla Blockchain (Questions on Blockchain)' in 2019, ‘Sorularla DeFi - Merkeziyetsiz Finans (Questions on DeFi- Decentralized Finance)’ in 2022 and ‘Sorularla Web3 (Questions on Web3)’ in 2025. He is currently a member of the advisory board at BlockchainIST Center and advisor/board member to several other institutions. He holds an BA degree in management from Bogazici University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Prof. Dr. ŞERİF AZİZ ŞİMŞİR

Faculty Member, Sabancı University

Prof. Dr. Şimşir is an Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Management at Sabanci University. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Industrial Engineering Department of Marmara University in 2000, followed by an MS degree in Economics from Sabanci University in 2002. He later received his PhD in Economics degree from Cornell University in 2009. Since joining Sabanci University, he taught undergraduate, masters and PhD level courses on Corporate Finance, Valuation, Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions, Statistics, Econometrics and Microeconomics.

Prof. Dr. Şimşir has a number of scholarly publications on Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Governance, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets in internationally recognized journals. He has been awarded research grants from the European Union and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). He serves as a referee and external consultant for academic journals and organizations.