
11 Dec 2025
Istanbul, Türkiye
11 Dec 2025
Istanbul, Türkiye
In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are at the heart of innovation, transforming industries, redefining business strategies, and unlocking new possibilities. In relation to this, organizations in Türkiye have made significant strides in understanding the essentials for successful AI implementation. They are focusing on enhancing readiness through initiatives such as digital infrastructure enablement, data architecture modernization, and comprehensive upskilling and reskilling initiatives for employees. According to IDC’s Digital Executive Sentiment Survey, 58% of organizations in Türkiye have identified AI as their top emerging technology investment priority in 2025. In the same survey multi cloud technology was the second investment priority for Turkish organizations with 54%.
As these foundational elements take shape, the next phase of their AI journey is centered on seamlessly integrating AI into their broader digital business strategies. This progression aims to unlock greater business impact by aligning AI-driven innovations with strategic goals, fostering competitive advantage, and enabling transformative growth. The emphasis now shifts from preparation to maximizing AI’s potential as a cornerstone of digital transformation.
Gökhanalp Arslan graduated from Middle East Technical University, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1997 and completed his MBA programme at Hacettepe University, Institute of Social Sciences between 2001-2003. He completed Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning programme at Koç University.
In 1997, Mr Arslan joined İşbank as a software specialist and worked as a solution architect and technical leader in the core banking and capital markets areas of İşbank Group and its subsidiaries between 2000 and 2010.
In 2010, Mr Arslan switched to a full-time data analytics role and held various leadership positions in data warehouse management between 2010 and 2013 and business intelligence management between 2013 and 2016. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as the Analytical Applications Unit Manager.
With more than fifteen years of experience in data analytics and artificial intelligence, Arslan is currently leading İşbank’s artificial intelligence transformation as the Division Head of Artifical Intelligence
As Group Director of Data for Hepsiburada, Alper Çelik is a passionate and visionary leader who drives data strategy and transformation for Hepsiburada, Turkey’s leading e-commerce platform. He is motivated by the challenge of creating value from data and information, and aims to foster a data-driven culture across the organization. He brings diverse perspectives and experiences to the organization, as he has worked in various sectors, such as banking, retail, and technology over 20 years. His extensive knowledge covers everything from data engineering, data modeling, data warehousing to data governance, and data science. Mr. Celik holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the Bogazici University of Istanbul
Metin Demirel, with over 30 years of experience in both Turkish and international business, graduated from the Computer Engineering Department of Boğaziçi University in 1992. He began his career at Aknet, the information technology subsidiary of Akbank, and later transitioned to Sulzer Medica Intermedics in the United States in 1995. After serving in various information technology departments of Fortune 500 companies across different sectors in the USA, he founded his own company, Midsoft, in 2004.
In 2006, he returned to Turkey and held management and C-level executive positions at companies such as Aksigorta, Zürich Sigorta, and Tofaş. Since July 2023, he has been serving as the Director of Digital at Sabancı Holding. Additionally, Metin Demirel is a graduate of the Koç University Executive MBA program.
Dr. Mehmet Haklıdır has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science from Istanbul University. He completed his Master’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering and his Ph.D. in Control and Automation Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Haklıdır has held leadership and technical expert roles in large-scale national and international projects. He played a significant role in establishing the Artificial Intelligence Institute at TUBITAK BILGEM, and was involved in creating Turkey’s artificial intelligence strategic vision. Dr. Haklıdır is a member of the OECD One AI Expert Group, the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), and the Artificial Intelligence Technologies Roadmap Advisory Board of the Council of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies. He continues his research in artificial intelligence, big data, and robotics. Throughout his career, he has presented at various national and international congresses and scientific conferences and published articles in international scientific journals indexed by SCI. Dr. Haklıdır has received national and international awards from different organizations. Currently, Dr. Haklıdır is Director of Artificial Intelligence Institute at TUBITAK BILGEM.
Born in 1967 in İstanbul, Kemal Kaplan graduated from Akdeniz University Electronic Engineering department. He worked in Sony, Netaş, Pimaş and Yapı Kredi Bank as a specialists and in Esbank, Etibank, ZB and HSBC Bank as an administrative. He has participated in various projects about reconstruction, integration of financial organizations, call-centers, credit-cards, ATM and banking applications/technologies and health application/technologies. Besides his studies on mobile technologies, wearable technologies and Research and Development projects, during various seminars he has been sharing his experiences on health technologies with the industry. He works as a technological consultant in some public organizations on behalf of Acıbadem Sağlık Grubu. He’s a member of the Board of Management of Life Sciences and Information Technologies in Health Organization. He currently works as an Information Technologies Director in charge of technological management in Acıbadem Sağlık Grubu hospitals, university and all subsidiaries.
Sait Reçber is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, focused on Data and Analytics. Sait is currently the Head of Data and Analytics at HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world with 42 million customers and 220,000 employees in 62 different countries, since 2019.
Before HSBC, he worked in Business Intelligence, Big Data areas at Vodafone Turkey and most recently served as Privacy and Information Security Manager. Before joining Vodafone, he held various positions in business intelligence, business process management and call center systems at Garanti Factoring and Avea companies.
Sait was graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in physics engineering and completed Executive MBA at Istanbul Şehir University in 2014.
He received BS and MS degrees in Computer Engineering from Boğaziçi University, Turkey and MBA from Bologna Business School, Italy. With over 20 years of experience in banking, finance and insurance, he worked for top institutions including GarantiBBVA, Yapı Kredi, Akbank, QNB Finansbank , AvivaSA and held different responsibilities. In 2018, he started to work in Tofaş, where he managed commercial and manufacturing ICT operations and led corporate AI tranformation of company. He joined Karsan as the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) in 2023 to be a part of Karsan’s transformation in electric, hydrogen and autonomous buses. His expertise includes AI strategy building and execution in corporate. He is also a mentor for AI and digital business model start-ups.
Information Technologies and Digital Transformation Director
Saruhan Holding
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Ali İlker Yüceer was born in Cyprus in 1977. He graduated from Anadolu University’s Faculty of Business Administration, majoring in Management and Organization. He completed his education in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. Subsequently, Yüceer pursued further education in Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things at the University System of Georgia and earned a master’s degree in Information Systems from Sakarya University.
Yüceer began his professional career in 1994 and has served as an information technology manager at various companies. He holds numerous certificates and qualifications in this field.
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