New Governor of the Central Bank is Hafize Gaye Erkan

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With the decision of President Erdoğan published in the Official Gazettee, Hafize Gaye Erkan was appointed as the new governor of the Central Bank. 44 year old Erkan will be the first woman to chair the Central Bank of Turkey. 

It was reported before that Mehmet Şimşek, the Finance Minister in the new cabinet, wanted Erkan, who was working as a CEO in the finance sector in the US as the Governor of the bank. 

About Hafize Gaye Erkan 

After graduating from İstanbul High School (İstanbul Erkek Lisesi),a long-established school in İstanbul with German as the education language, Hafize Gaye Erkan graduated from the Industrial Engineering department of Boğaziçi University in 2001. 

She continued her studies in the US and completed her PhD at Princeton University in 2005 in the fields of operational research and finance engineering. 

She also completed the administrative sciences program at the Harvard Business School, and a leadership program at the Stanford University. 

Erkan started her career at Goldman Sachs in 2005. She advised the boards and executive management teams of large U.S. banks and insurance companies on balance sheet management, stress testing and capital planning, risk management, and mergers and acquisitions. 

She started workikng at the First Republic Bank in 2014. She spent nearly eight years in this bank, in roles including Co-Chief Executive Officer, President, Board Member, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Deposit Officer, and Co-Chief Risk Officer.

Erkan served on the Board of Directors for Tiffany & Co., the jewelry company based in the US for two years, and in 2022 she joined the Board of Directors at Fortune 500 firm Marsh McLennan.

Being the only woman under 40 holding a President or CEO title at America's 100 largest banks according to San Francisco Business Times' research in 2018, she as named to San Francisco Business Times' 40 Under 40 and Crain New York Business' 40 Under 40 lists in the same year. 

In 2019, Erkan was named to Crain's list of Notable Women in Banking and Finance, and American Banker's Women to Watch list.

Having expertice on banking, investment, risk management, technology and digital innovation, Erkan also serves on the Advisory Council for the Princeton University Operations Research and Financial Engineering Department. (EMK/PE)