Board of Directors

Mehmet Tütüncü completed his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Gazi University and his master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Maltepe University. With an IRI scholarship, he attended training programs in Italy for six months focusing on Production, Quality Control, and Maintenance Applications. Throughout his career, Tütüncü completed certificate programs in Strategic Marketing at Harvard Business School, as well as various programs at IMD (Switzerland) and INSEAD (Singapore). In December 2025, he successfully completed the “Leading from the Chair” (Chairmanship) program at INSEAD (Fontainebleau).

Mehmet Tütüncü began his professional career in 1981 as a Domestic Industry Specialist at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Between 1987 and 1996, he served respectively as Production Manager, Plant Manager, and General Manager at Best Rothmans Integrated Cigarette and Tobacco Industry Inc.

He started his first role within Yıldız Holding in 1996 as Operations Coordinator at Ülker Gıda A.Ş. He has held several senior positions including General Manager of Ülker Biscuit and Chocolate Factories, Vice President of the Ülker Group, President of the Food and Beverage Group, President of the Food Group, and President of the Ülker International Group.

In 2016, he was appointed Regional CEO responsible for Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia within the pladis organization established under Yıldız Holding. In 2017, in addition to his existing responsibilities, he assumed responsibility for the South Asia and Latin America regions, as well as pladis Global Information Systems and Business Model Transformation, continuing his role as Deputy CEO. As of October 2018, Tütüncü has served as Vice Chairman of the Board and CEO of Yıldız Holding. As of April 2025, he serves as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Yıldız Holding.

Tütüncü is a Board Member of TÜGİS and is also a member of many Turkish and international industry organizations.

Currently serving as the CEO and Chairman of Franklin Templeton Danışmanlık A.Ş. Since joining Franklin Templeton in 2006, Mr. Kalkandelen has focused on Emerging Markets, Small-cap Companies and Turkish Stocks. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Defacto Perakende Ticaret A.Ş., ŞOK Marketler Ticaret A.Ş. and Gözde Girişim Sermayesi Yatırım Ortaklığı A.Ş. Kalkandelen holds an MBA degree, with honors, from Sabancı University. During his MBA, he also studied strategic management at Florida University, Warrington School of Business Management, and he completed the Labor Economics Department of the Political Sciences Faculty, Ankara University, as a high honor student.

After graduating from Kabataş High School in 1986, he graduated from Istanbul Technical University's Department of Control and Computer Engineering. Özçelik, who founded Penta Computer with his university friends in 1990, continues to serve as the Company’s Executive Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is married and has two children.

Pınar Ilgaz graduated from Izmir Bornova Anatolian High School in 1983 and from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration of Boğaziçi University in 1988. In 1989, she started her career in banking and continued as assistant finance manager in the financial leasing sector. Since 1995, she works at the ARGE Consultancy department. She continues to provide management consultancy in various projects as a Managing Partner at ARGE Consultancy. Within the scope of her expertise areas such as Strategic Assessment and Performance Improvement Projects, Institutionalization, Corporate Governance Structures and Sustainability Strategies, Integrated Thinking and Reporting, and Human Resources areas under ARGE Consultancy, Ms. Ilgaz has conducted management consultancy projects for more than 100 institutions and companies of different magnitudes and in different sectors. She serves at the Advisory Board of a food industry company with production and global sales activities. She is Managing Partner at ARGE Consultancy (www.arge.com), Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Argüden Governance Academy Foundation (www.argudenacademy.org), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Private Sector Volunteers (OSGD- www.osgd.org), Member of the Placement Committee of the Association of Women at the Board of Directors. She has been selected for the 'More Women in the Boards of Directors' Program, together with 40 Women Executive in the first group to be selected in Turkey, she has completed the trainings within the program, including Preparations for Being an Independent Member in the Boards of Directors, Information and Mentor Guidance.

Aytaç Saniye Mutlugüller obtained her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Boğaziçi University and spent most of her professional life at the Şişecam Group, which operates in all fields of glass with production plants in many countries. She began her professional life as an assistant specialist for finance and then was directly involved in the domestic and overseas growth of the Group that adopted a centralized financial management style. Ms. Mutlugüller supported the development of a robust financial structure and played an active role as manager in the first-time implementation of various financial products. She represented the Group in several conferences as a speaker, in addition to her representative duties for foreign and domestic shareholders. After she retired as the Vice President for Finance, she served the Boards of four companies under the Group, provided advisory, and supported the implementation of different projects.

After graduating from Bilkent University's Business Administration department, Fahrettin Günalp Ertik began his career as a Financial Controller at Finansbank. Between 2002 and 2019, he held various positions at Yıldız Holding, including Internal Auditor, Kellogg Finance Manager, Ülker Financial Affairs Coordinator, Food Group Financial Affairs Coordinator, Food & Beverage and Retail Group CFO, Besler General Manager, and Önem Gıda Vice President. Ertik, who took on responsibilities in important projects throughout his career at Yıldız Holding, completed the INSEAD Leadership Program in 2011. He then received training in finance, sales, marketing, and leadership at Wharton Business School and Kellogg School of Management. Ertik successfully completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP) in 2023. Ertik served as Chief Financial Officer and Board Member at Azersun Holding from January 2019 to June 2020. In August 2020, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Yıldız Holding.