The 10th Women Directors Conference was organized on Wednesday, November 29, hosted by The Marmara Taksim.
The event began with opening speeches by Ahmet Dördüncü, the Country Leader of the 30% Club Türkiye, Naci Başerdem, CEO of The Marmara Group, and Selen Zorlu Melik, a Board Member of Zorlu Holding. Following the opening speeches, the keynote address on the main theme 'The Purpose of Companies and the Changing Role of Boards' was delivered by Colin Mayer, Emeritus Professor at Oxford University. Prof. Dr. Melsa Ararat, Chair of the Board of the 30% Club Türkiye, presented the data from the '2023 Women on Board' report, which scrutinizes the percentage of women on the boards of publicly traded companies in Turkey. Subsequently, the success award in the category of 'Boards Strengthened with Women in Newly Public Companies' was presented by İbrahim Öztop, Chairman of the Board of the Capital Markets Association of Turkey, to Smart Güneş Enerji Teknolojileri, Sun Tekstil, Hitit Bilgisayar Hizmetleri,Hidropar Hareket Kontrol Teknolojileri, Anatolia Tanı ve Biyoteknoloji Ürünleri, Ünlü Yatırım Holding, and Gelecek Varlık Yönetim. The panel, moderated by Sibel Asna, Co-Founder of A&B Communications, featured panelists Zeliha Ünaldı, Deputy Country Director of UN Women Türkiye, Ebru Köksal, Board Member of Australian Professional Leagues and International Tennis Integrity Agency, Şule Kılıç, Deputy Country Director of EBRD, and Ebru Dorman, Board Member of NATO Innovation Fund, HSBC Turkey, and Saran Group. Following the closing remarks by Ata Can Bertay, Director of SU CGFT, the event moved to a networking and cocktail session with participants and speakers.
We would like to thank our main sponsors, The Marmara Group and Zorlu Holding, and our partial sponsors, Akçansa, Boyner Group, Egon Zhender, Ingage, İş Leasing, Stanton Chase, and TAV Airports, for making this event possible.