Mr. Kurtul received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Istanbul University, Faculty of Business Administration and obtained his MBA degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). He held several executive roles at Citibank, BNP-Ak-Dresdner Bank and Societe Generale prior to his appointment as an EVP at Akbank in 1998. Between 2000 and 2009, Mr. Kurtul served as the CEO of Akbank and held the role of Board Vice Chairman until 2010. He then worked as the CEO and Board Member of Sabancı Holding until 2017. In the same period, he was the Board Chairman of various subsidiaries of Sabancı Holding. He was appointed as a Board Member of Alternatif Bank in 2017. Mr. Kurtul is a qualified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).