BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(1944 - Denizli) Ahmet Zorlu began his professional career in a family-owned textile business in Babadağ, Denizli. He opened his first textile store in Trabzon. In 1970, Mr. Zorlu moved the company’s headquarters to Istanbul and laid the foundations of Zorlu Holding together with his brother, Zeki Zorlu. Ahmet Zorlu set up his first company, Korteks in 1976 and gathered all of the companies under the roof of Zorlu Holding in 1990. Acquiring Vestel in 1994, Ahmet Zorlu opened the door to new lines of business for Zorlu Holding. Mr. Zorlu’s entrepreneurialism, which began with the textile industry, went on to manifest itself in more companies operating in a wide range of industries such as consumer electronics, household appliances, energy, property development, metallurgy and defense. Ahmet Zorlu serves as the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Board in numerous Zorlu Group companies operating in different industries including Vestel Beyaz Eşya and Vestel Elektronik.

With a keen interest in non-governmental organizations, Ahmet Zorlu sits on the Board of DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board), TUSIAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association), DENSIR (Education and Culture Foundation of People of Denizli), BASIAD (Babadağ Industry and Business Association) and TETSIAD (Turkish Home Textile Industrialists’ Association).

(1948 - Istanbul) A graduate of Robert College, Melih Araz received his Bachelor’s Degree from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, in 1972. He completed his MBA at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University in 1975, where he was a USAID/TEV scholar. Mr. Araz also attended an “Executive Management Program” at Harvard Business School in 1988. Starting his career in finance and banking at Citibank N.A.’s office in Turkey in 1977, Mr. Araz served in executive positions at the bank’s Istanbul, Bahrain, Athens and New York offices and assumed key responsibilities in the establishment and expansion of Citibank’s operations in Turkey. He later served as the CEO/General Manager at Interbank AŞ, a Çukurova Holding affiliate, for eight years where he played a leading role in elevating Interbank to a respected and pioneering position in corporate and investment banking in Turkey. After leaving Interbank, Mr. Araz worked as a consultant in various major projects and served as a Board Member at a number of companies including Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Üretim AŞ (2008-2013) and Enka İnşaat AŞ (2012-2018). In addition to serving as the Vice Chairman of the Board at Vestel Beyaz Eşya Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, Mr. Araz also sits on the Board of Vestel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, which is a Zorlu Group company. Melih Araz is also a Board Member at Ata Yatırım Menkul Kıymetler AŞ, Ata Gayrimenkul Yatırım Ortaklığı AŞ, TFI Gıda Yatırımları AŞ, Burger King China JV Ltd., Izmir Enternasyonel Otelcilik AŞ and Entegre Harç Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ.

(1965 - Trabzon) Upon completing his higher education in textiles and business administration in the UK, Olgun Zorlu began his professional career in 1986. He started to serve in managerial positions at various Zorlu Group companies in 1988 and managed their foreign market research and business development operations. Mr. Zorlu started serving as a Board Member at Zorlu Holding in 1998. In addition to his board membership at Vestel Beyaz Eşya, Mr. Zorlu also serves as a Board Member at Zorlu Holding and various other Zorlu Group companies.

(1976 - Istanbul) After graduating from Işık High School, Şule Zorlu pursued her undergraduate studies in the USA. She studied business administration at the Pepperdine University in Los Angeles in her first year and at New Jersey’s Silberman College/FDU in the following two years. She worked at Zorlu Holding’s American subsidiary, Zorlu USA Textile, for about six months. In 1999, she returned to Turkey to take office as a Management Trainee at Denizbank, and went on to serve in various departments of the bank for two years. She became a Board Member at Anadolu Kredi Kartları AŞ, which was acquired in early 2002. In 2003, she was appointed as the General Manager of Linens Pazarlama. In addition to being a Board Member at Vestel Beyaz Eşya, Mrs. Zorlu serves as the Chairman of the Board at Z Gurme Restoran Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ.

(1975 - Trabzon) Selen Zorlu Melik graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Uludağ University. She began her professional career at Denizbank in 1998. Following her internship at Denizbank’s Bursa branch, she joined the Management Trainee Program of the bank in 1999. After working in a number of positions at the Denizbank head office, Mrs. Zorlu Melik attended a Marketing Certificate Program at the University of California, Berkeley, USA in 2001. She subsequently started to work at the Korteks Yarn Plant in 2002 and became a Board Member of the same company in 2004. Appointed as a Member of the Board of Directors at Vestel Beyaz Eşya’s 2018 Annual General Meeting held on 8 May 2019, Selen Zorlu Melik currently serves as a Board Member in numerous companies within Zorlu Group.

(1969 - Izmir) Ayşegül İldeniz has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Boğaziçi University and a master's degree in Electronic Communications Arts from San Francisco State University. Ms. İldeniz joined Intel Corporation, the leading global microprocessor company, in 1998 where she served respectively, as General Manager for Intel Turkey, as Director for Middle East, Turkey and Africa region, covering 67 countries and as a European Board Member before being appointed to the position of Global Vice President in the New Devices Group at Intel Headquarters in Silicon Valley in 2013. In 2016, Ayşegül İldeniz became the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Silver Spring Networks, a company quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, which controls half of the US smart energy market with 26 million subscribers. Ms. İldeniz assumes a pioneering role in the areas of innovation, technology and mapping out a vision for the future in Silicon Valley and Istanbul. She was selected by Dünya Newspaper the “IT Female of the Year” in 2004 and “Female Executive of the Year” in 2006 and as one of the “Top 100 Most Creative Persons in Business” by the San Francisco-based Fast Company Magazine and the “Third Most Influential Turkish-American Woman” by the Turks of America (TOA) Magazine in 2015. Ayşegül İldeniz is currently the President of TUSIAD Silicon Valley Network and a Board Member of the American-Turkish Society and Turkish Philanthropy Funds. In addition to being a Board Member at Vestel Beyaz Eşya, Ms. İldeniz also serves on the Boards of two other Zorlu Group companies – Vestel Elektronik and Zorlu Enerji. Ms. İldeniz is also a board member of Doğan Şirketler Grubu Holding AŞ.

(1956 - Denizli) Bekir Ağırdır graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Middle East Technical University in 1979. He served respectively, as Sales Manager and then Assistant General Manager at Bilsan Bilgisayar Malzemeleri AŞ (1980-1984), Sales Coordinator at Meteksam Ltd. (1984-1986), General Manager at Pirintaş Bilgisayar Malzemeleri ve Basım Sanayi AŞ (1986-1996), Deputy General Manager at Atılım Kâğıt ve Defter Sanayi AŞ (1996-1999) and as General Manager and Board Member at PMB Akıllı Kart ve Bilgi Teknolojileri AŞ (1999-2003). During 2003-2005, Mr. Ağırdır worked as a Coordinator and then as General Manager at Tarih Vakfı (History Foundation of Turkey). Bekir Ağırdır, who has been the General Manager and Board Member of KONDA Araştırma ve Danışmanlık Limited Şirketi (KONDA Research and Consultancy) since 2005, serves only as the Board Member as of June, 2022. In addition to being a Board Member at Vestel Beyaz Eşya, Mr. Ağırdır also serves on the Boards of two other Zorlu Group companies – Vestel Elektronik and Zorlu Enerji.