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Gülden Türktan Biography

Dr. Turktan, appointed in 2015 as the Founding Chair of the W20 – Women 20, the outreach group of G20 as a platform to enhance the women’s status and participation in the respective economies of the G20 countries. This year, in 2022, she has been appointed as the Rual women Co-Chair of the W20 under the presidency of W20 Indonesia.

She is the former (2011-2015) President of KAGIDER, the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey. She is now a member of the Presidential Council of KAGIDER. In KAGIDER, she undertook the leadership to promote establishment of W20 and she was appointed as the founding President of the W20, the women outreach group of the G20 that supports gender-inclusive business and economic growth for all G20 countries.

She has delivered outspoken speeches about public policy issues related to women and regulation in the country and added both macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives regarding the existence of women in business. 

She was behind a very successful program known as FEM – an equal opportunity program at the workplace.

From 1988 to 2008, she worked as a professional executive and board member of ABB, a Swiss-Swedish engineering company. By training she is
an economist and business school graduate from Bogazici University and New York University.

She owns and manages residential property in Bodrum and Istanbul. 

She works as consultant and mentor for various small to large companies establishing steps for their progress and development.

She has written a book on leadership experiences called “the Dark Face of Leadership” that will soon be published based on her experience as an
executive, leader and consultant. She had various articles published. She has a blog called guldenturktan.com where she writes about gender.

Dr. Turktan has been invited to be a member of the Advisory Council for Gender and Development for the World Bank Group in 2016.

She has been serving in boards of various companies and all together she has accumulated almost 125 years of board membership experience. She makes speeches and writes articles on the topics of leadership and
organizational improvements, management, future of work and corporate governance as was well as gender.

In September 2018, Dr. Gülden Turktan received the “Public Recognition Award of the Second Eurasian Women Forum of 2018” in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In November 2020, she has been awarded Enterprising Women of the Year, USA, award for her turnover in the residency management and for the social responsibility projects she has been managing.

She has been elected to be the President of the Board of International Women’s’ Forum in Turkey in 2019 and now she is serving her second term as the president. She and her board has succeeded in turning the Forum into a well-known and live network.