Dr. Murat Yalcıntaş, President, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Murat Yalçıntaş was born in Istanbul. He studied at the French Lycée Saint Joseph and continued his education at the Bosphorus University in mechanical engineering, received his master’s degree from Boston University, Brussels. He completed his PhD in management at Istanbul University in 2007.
From 1989 to 1990, he worked as chief and expert researcher within the scope of European Union in Brussels. Then, he was assigned as project specialist and chief in Islamic Development Bank for three years. After returning to Turkey, Dr. Yalçıntaş took several initiatives to establish companies in different sectors, such as telecommunication, casting, and heating-air conditioning, in which he is presiding.
Dr. Yalçıntaş was elected in the 1995 and 1999 elections as assembly member of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce from professional committee of hardware. He was elected in 2005 as the president of the executive board of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and re-elected in March, 2009. Also in May 2009, he was appointed as the vice president of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).
In addition to these duties, in July 2007 he became the first Turkish president of ASCAME, which is an organization with more than 200 chambers of commerce from the twenty-two countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. In 2009, he was re-elected for the second term to this post. Since March 2006, he is the president of the Istanbul Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB), and Tourism Development and Education Foundation (TUGEV).
Dr. Yalçıntaş is the member of board of trustees of the Istanbul Commerce University. He is also member and cofounder of several social, cultural and economic foundations.
He speaks French and English fluently, and German and Arabic at the intermediate level.
