Leyla Arsan

CEO - leyla.arsan@tages.biz

Born in 1966, graduated from the Middle East Technical University Statistics Department. CEO of TAGES since 2002 with ICT business and innovation knowledge and experience for 34 years in various industries. She is experienced in EU funded R&D and Innovation Projects, innovation management, consulting and collaborating with industry, academia, NGOs, and mainly SMEs and Start-Ups. R&D and Innovation Consultant in ICT based innovative application and services on Self-Sovereign Digital Identity Wallets, Smart Cities, Sustainability and Circular Economy and as Data enthusiast; Open and Linked Data, Interoperability, Big Data, IoT, AI, Digital Identity, Blockchain impacting on SDGs. Member of the advisory boards of various academic and non-profit groups in Turkey and Europe. She has more than 20 years of experience in the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry by several EU and national activities performed within the projects in collaboration with EU organizations as an expert. Founder and Advisory Board Member of Istanbul Blockchain Women Association and Beykoz University. Active in European Communities of Big and Open Data, Digital Identity, ICT, Digital Social Innovation and Open Innovation platforms as a member of NEM(Network and Media), NESSI(Software and Services), ODI(Open Data Institute), DSI(Digital Social Innovation Initiative) and eIDAS(Regulation on electronic identification and trust services) Expert Group. She has contributed in various books and academic articles where one of them was published by Wiley and selected as the “top cited article in 2021-2022” in ‘Creativity and Innovation Management Journal’ with the heading: Non‐governmental organizations and universities as transition intermediaries in sustainability transformations building on grassroots initiatives led by Prof. Patricia Wolf. 

She speaks natively Turkish and Italian, excellent in English and poor in French and Japanese.

Erdem Gülgener

Vice Chairperson - erdem.gulgener@tages.biz

Born in 1966 in Istanbul, he graduated from the Bogazici University Computer Engineering Department. Since 1988 worked in ICT sector as a professional and entrepreneur, developed and managed numerous products and projects, reaching more than 1 million power users. Besides his ICT management skills (Product Development, Quality and Test Management, Product Marketing, New Business Development) he is in worldwide research and innovation since 1995, planned, developed and managed joint research projects including projects funded by European Union research Funding Programmes since EU FP5. He is an expert in Supply Chain Execution, Business Interoperability and Integration, Social Networks, Value Chain Management, eBusiness, eCommerce, Virtual Enterprise, Digital Market, Banking Transactions, Enterprise Application Integration, SME Needs. Besides being member of Istanbul ICT Watchdog Group, he is also one of the experts in European Digital Agenda Localization in Turkey Project responsible for Digital Single Market and Interoperability and Standards pillars.

He speaks native Turkish, fluent English and German, and beginner’s French.

Eda Telli Yamamoto

Projects Expert - eda.yamamoto@tages.biz

Born in 1993 in Istanbul, she graduated with high honors from Boğaziçi University Management Information Systems department. She is currently doing her PhD on digital marketing in Maltepe University, previously she lived in the UK for two years for her PhD in management studies firstly at Brunel University London in 2016 and at University of Bradford in 2017. While she was in university, she was an intern at TAGES in April 2014 working for the Hackathonist Event. She also had internships at gHealthcare in August 2014, at Enocta in August 2015, and at Alterna Team in March 2016. She volunteered as the social media coordinator and part-time secretariat for ECIS 2016 Local Committee. She received First Prize in history subject of (Marmara Region) TUBITAK National Secondary School Research Projects Contest with the project named “Müzelerde Hayat Var” in 2011. She was also granted the “Prime Minister Scholarship” due to the high-performance in the Higher Education Examination-Undergraduate Placement Examination in Turkey during her university years. She is currently working as a freelance expert at TAGES and interested in new technologies, innovation, marketing, and event management. She studied a wide range of subjects such as; object oriented programming, marketing and management, business data communications, database systems, information systems audit, and research methodology.

She speaks native Turkish, fluent English, intermediate Japanese, and beginner German.

Hikmet Barutçu

Coordinator – hikmet.barutcu@tages.biz

Born in 1964. She graduated from Hacettepe University’s Economics Department in 1985 and has got her Master’s degree from the same university in Banking and Capital Systems and its relationship with enterprises. Between 1986 and 1990, she did economic research studies on the Manufacturing Industries of Ankara at the Ankara Chamber of Industry and served as a Consultant to the Board. Between 1990 and 2000, she worked as a branch manager of the Yapı Kredi Investment Securities Company in Ankara. She is currently working on entrepreneurship, employment policies, social innovation, regional development, clustering and innovation as an expert consultant with certification from  Ankara University on European Union policies. She is also interested in civil society development funds and projects. She has a wide network of business oriented NGOs and clusters both in Turkey and in the EU and she has very close relations with them. She is a member of Entrepreneural Business Women and Support Association (ANGIKAD) and Technology R&D Science Innovation Association (TABID). She has been working as a Coordinator at TAGES since 2003.

She speaks native Turkish and is fluent in English.

Selen Akçalı

Independent Consultant – selenakcali@som.eu.com

Akçalı is the co-founder of SOM and holds a bachelor's degree in French Public Administration from Marmara University. Management and Political Science Department. Her undergraduate thesis was conducted by Prof. Dr. Füsun Üstel  on "Turkish Lobby in the Process of Accession to the European Union" under his supervision. She received his master's degree in International Relations and Politics from Boğaziçi University. and in her master's thesis, under the supervision of Prof. Hakan Yılmaz, she studied the new civil society organisation formations after the Cold War, She analysed the professionalisation of civil society and EU-oriented think-tanks in Turkey as a case study. She completed her PhD in the field of Recent History at Boğaziçi University Atatürk Institute. She wrote her dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Asım Karaömerlioğlu on Turkey's domestic and foreign propaganda activities during World War II. In 2003, during her internship at TÜSİAD Brussels office, she conducted a research on Turkey's EU communication strategy with leading think-tanks and platforms in Brussels. Between 2004 and 2008, she worked as an EU expert at TAGES, the first EU consultancy company in Turkey. She provided consultancy and training services to universities, civil society, private sector, SMEs and industry on project proposal document preparation, cooperation development, project financial and administrative management and networking in the field of EU funded grant programmes. Since 2010, she has been working within SOM, which she founded, primarily on culture, arts and rights-based projects.

She speaks native Turkish, fluent French and English.

Prof. Dr. Gonca Telli Yamamoto

Independent Consultant – goncatelli10@gmail.com

Prof. Dr Sahure Gonca Telli (YAMAMOTO) is a Professor of Marketing and respectively she served as the Dean of Economics and Administrative Sciences and Business and Management Sciences at Maltepe University and Doğuş University. She is the Founder of Okan University Business Administration Department, Institute of Social Sciences and Distance Education Centre. She is one of the opinion leaders on mobile marketing, mobile learning and digital transformation in Turkey. She works on integrated marketing, technological developments and customer value. She is also interested in the broader implications of the emerging information society. She has published more than 100 articles in various journals and publishing houses and more than 30 books (including editorials and chapters) and other academic works in the fields of sales, integrated marketing, mobile marketing, E-Business, IT Ethics and E-learning. Her last edited book Sustainable Marketing was published in 2023. She has also received two outstanding paper awards from the International E-Business Academy. She has organised several Mobile Learning workshops and Mobile Life and Applications Conferences in Turkey. She has also completed many national and international projects as a partner and manager. She was selected as the best project manager of the year in 2020 with the "Maltepe University Plogging Race Project" by the Turkish Project Management Professional Institute and received the "Çetin Ceviz(Hard Nut to crack) Award". She was awarded the "Contactless" Award by BY Protokol Magazine in 2020 for her work in the field of Digital Transformation and E-learning in Turkey. She recently teaches courses such as Informatics Management, Informatics seminars and E- Business at Yeditepe University.

Julie Harboe

External Consultant - julie@harboe.ch

Julie Harboe has a research degree in art history, today she develops and coaches future-proof research projects from education to industry to civic society and is external lecturer for Open Collaborative Innovation.  She co-founded and -managed the interdisciplinary art space forumclaque in Baden CH 1993-1999. 2001-2004 she was assistant for art at Collegium Helveticum, and researcher at GTA, both at the Federal Technical University, ETH, Zürich. From 2007-2012 she developed and coordinated the new unit for artistic research at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (LUASA), Faculty of Fine Arts, and 2012-2014 headed its CC Arts Materials Research. 2014-15 she was senior researcher in the project ‘Size Matters’ at Zurich University of the Arts. From 2014 she has been lecturer at LUASA School of Business and Engineering and Architecture and as part of Future Laboratory CreaLab she participated in several larger research project such as PlasticTwist, on the revaluation of plastic, supported by EU Horizon 2020. Her focus is on transdisciplinarity, materiality and creativity, new forms of teaching, and innovation processes between research and practice. For more details go to http://www.julieharboe.com

Belkıs Pehlivanoğlu

Communications Coordinator - belkis.kil@tages.biz

Born in 1969, graduated from Akdeniz University Department Tourism and Hotel Management in 1991.During her educational years and following graduation, she worked as a tourist guide and took part in hotel openings. She worked as a manager in reservation, front office and sales departments at Fulya Apart-Alanya, Setur Antalya, Kiriş World Çamyuva, Ofo Hotel Antalya, Sheraton Voyager Antalya Hotel, Steinberger Falez Hotel, Club Megasaray Belek. She became the employee of the year at Sheraton in 1992 and was the first youngest night manager in Türkiye. In 1993, she won 3rd place in Sheraton Club International competition in worldwide sales and her team placed 5th. She worked as a manager and consultant in retail, logistics and service sectors between 1999-2016 She worked as sales and marketing director in Etiler Maya Residence, Bos Group, Ups-Ünsped Customs Consultancy, Piripak Cleaning&Service. In addition, she worked actively as one of the partners of 5M Advertising and Tourism Ltd. between 2008-2011.

Since 2016, with her wide selected global network, she coordinates meetings and events of distinguished and senior academics, global business leaders and advisors. She has managed governmental and high-level business connections between USA and Türkiye in the fields of industrial innovation and business projects implementation especially for the development of Turkish start-ups. She has played an active role in matching funding partners with start up founders and has contributed to their success by initiating and following up their activities. She has also provided freelance consulting services within her network to various companies and SMEs in various sectors including the ICT sector. She actively took role in the foundation of the Etki Çemberleri Vakfı (Circles of Impact Foundation) and worked as a corporate relations development coordinator between 2021- 2022. She works as communication coordinator in TAGES and actively contributes on the generation of projects for several industries since 2020. She is a member of the Association of Science Heroes (Bilim Kahramanları Derneği) and volunteers for NGOs. She speaks English and German fluently.

Arzu Altınay

Independent Consultant - altinar@yahoo.com

Born in 1968 in Ankara, she finished T.E.D. Ankara College and completed her BA and MA in English Literature at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters. She is currently working as a freelance Language Lead for a global brand. She has over +25 years experience working as translator, interpreter and localization expert. Her main fields of expertise are law, travel, EU projects. She is bilingual (TUR-EN) and dabbles in a bit of Spanish, French and Dutch. She joined TAGES team in 2014 as an independent consultant. 

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Özbil Tezcan

Project based consultant – ozbiltezcan@gmail.com

He was born in Ankara in 1964. He was graduated from Middle East Technical University Department of Engineering Sciences. He had lived long years in United States as an Independent contractor in industrial service field and owned and managed his own food and drink establishment. He moved back to Istanbul in 2015 and since then he is working as a free-lance consultant in innovative business and marketing sector. He joined TAGES team in September 2018 as a project based consultant.  He speaks fluently English as well as Turkish.

Zargan

Printer supervisor

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