Türkiye At The CROSSROADS

Consul General

Republic of Türkiye in Boston

Halime Diğdem Buner is a distinguished Turkish diplomat currently serving as the Consul General of the Republic of Türkiye in Boston. Throughout her career within the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she has held significant roles across various international missions and departments. In her current capacity in Boston, she oversees diplomatic, commercial, and cultural relations between Türkiye and the New England region. She is known for her active engagement with the Turkish diaspora, supporting educational initiatives, and navigating complex legal and humanitarian issues involving Turkish citizens in the United States.

Founder and Chair

Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC)

Tim Rowe is the founder and Chair of Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC). CIC is a global leader in building shared innovation campuses, with locations in the US, Europe, and Asia. Since 1999, Tim has grown CIC to operate nearly 2 million square feet of shared innovation office and laboratory space, making it the largest operator of innovation-focused shared workspace worldwide.

Vice President

Investment and Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye

Bekir Polat is the Vice President in charge of Overseas Activities at the Presidential Investment Office of Türkiye. Prior to this role, he served as the Head of the Communications Department at the Investment Office after holding various positions. From 2007 to 2017, he worked as a Project Director, managing investment projects from Germany, Austria, Spain, India, Japan, and China as well as promotion activities in these markets. Between 2017 and 2020, Mr. Polat served as the Deputy Country Manager of a Japanese company in Türkiye. In the earlier stages of his career, Mr. Polat gained valuable experience in the private sector, working in international trade and business development roles. Mr. Polat holds a BA degree in Public Finance from Istanbul University and pursued postgraduate studies in International Trade at Istanbul Commerce University, International Management at Vienna University of Economics and Business, and General Management at the Open University of Catalonia. Currently, he is actively pursuing a PhD in Management at Bahçeşehir University.

Investor

Newpath Partners

Dr. Katti is an investor at Newpath Partners, a Boston-based healthcare and life science venture capital firm, with recent exits including Orbital (acquired by BMS for $1.5B) and Metsera (acquired by Pfizer for $10B). He plays a key role in investment decision-making, supports portfolio companies operationally, and serves on company boards. Prior to Newpath, he was at McKinsey & Company, where he advised biopharmaceutical executives and investors on M&A, strategy, and operations. He is a physician-scientist by training; he was a physician at Penn Medicine, served on the University of Pennsylvania’s IRB, and earned a DPhil (PhD) from the University of Oxford as an NIH fellow.

President and CEO

LabCentral

Maggie O’Toole is the president and chief executive officer at LabCentral, the premier Massachusetts-based network of coworking labs. Responsible for developing and implementing company strategy, Maggie is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience who brings a deep understanding of how to create spaces, community and programming to support early-stage life sciences companies as they grow. Additionally, Maggie is an active steward of the Kendall Square community and the broader Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem, serving as an Executive Board Member of the Kendall Square Association.

Head of VC Investments

Eczacıbaşı Momentum

Berktuğ İncekaş is Head of VC Investments at Eczacıbaşı Momentum, where he leads a €30 million fund focused on direct and fund investments in healthcare. He serves on the boards of Evital and Virasoft and as a board observer at RS Research. Before Eczacıbaşı Momentum, he was Senior Manager of Investments at iLab Ventures, where he played a key role in the $500 million sale of GittiGidiyor to eBay — one of Turkey's largest exits. He has also advised at Startup Funding Club-SEIS Fund in the UK, worked in project and acquisition finance at Garanti Bank, and consulted at Ernst & Young.

CEO

BI7TECH Pharma

Selin Doğaneli is a visionary leader at the forefront of the global biotechnology frontier. As the CEO of BI7TECH Pharma, she spearheads the commercialization of cutting-edge genetic and bioengineering research, transforming complex scientific breakthroughs into life-saving pharmaceutical solutions.

As. Professor of Medicine

Harvard Medical School

Dr. M. Furkan Burak is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he leads a translational immunometabolism research group at Brigham and Women's Hospital and conducts molecular metabolism research at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His laboratory works at the frontier of obesity, immunity, and metabolic disease, with landmark discoveries including the identification of FABP4 as a therapeutic target in both obesity-induced airway disease and SARS-CoV-2 infection. A recipient of NIH funding, multiple national investigator awards, and the 2016 Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award, Dr. Burak is among the most accomplished young Turkish scientists in the world.

Investment Manager

Sabancı Climate Technologies

Drew D'Alelio is an Investment Manager at Sabanci Climate Ventures, leading investments in early and growth stage companies at the intersection of energy and AI on behalf of Sabanci Holdings. Prior to joining Sabanci, Drew built the $100M Climate Tech Fund at Connecticut Innovations, investing in 20 early-stage companies across the climate tech sector. Before that he worked at the US Development Finance Corporation investing in renewable energy and infrastructure projects. Drew holds an MBA and MPP from Yale University and a BA from Northwestern University.

Head of Global Infrastructure Equity

Manulife

Recep C. Kendircioglu is Head of Global Infrastructure Equity at Manulife, overseeing more than $20 billion in private infrastructure assets and serving as Portfolio Manager for multiple infrastructure private equity funds. With over 25 years of experience, he has led the firm’s global infrastructure platform since 2016, focusing on investment strategy, capital raising, and portfolio management. Prior to joining Manulife in 2007, Recep worked at Enel, acquiring and developing renewable energy projects across North America and Europe. He began his infrastructure career at InterGen, where he developed and financed power plants in the U.S. and held roles in asset management and corporate strategy.

Director of Financial Sponsors

Citigroup

Ilhan Kirpik is a Director in Financial Sponsors Coverage at Citigroup based in NY, where he advises leading private equity firms on M&A, financing, and strategic initiatives. He works closely with some of the largest global alternative asset managers and has been involved in a range of complex and high-profile transactions across the sponsor landscape. Ilhan joined Citigroup in 2017 and holds an MBA from Cornell University.

VP & Chairman

Trendyol/Turkish E-commerce Council

Ozan Acar is Vice President at Trendyol Group, where he leads the strategic direction of the company’s international expansion, focusing on positioning, policy, and partnerships. Previously, he headed the Industry Councils and Entrepreneurship Department at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB). His career has focused on private sector development and economic policy, with experience at TEPAV, the World Bank, and Harvard University’s Center for International Development. Acar currently serves as the elected Chairman of the Turkish E-commerce Council. He holds a BA and MA in Economics from Bilkent University, and an MA in International Development from Harvard University.

Principal

Apollo Global Management

Ibrahim Kaya is a Senior Principal in the High Grade Capital Solutions team at Apollo, where he focuses on structured equity and credit investments. Since joining Apollo in 2021, he has been responsible for originating, structuring, and underwriting bespoke investment solutions that provide capital to many of the world’s largest companies. He serves on the boards of Apollo's joint ventures with Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Keurig Dr Pepper's Pod Manufacturing business, Sony Music / Queen, Sony Music / Pink Floyd, and SOCAR Caspian Holdings. Prior to Apollo, Ibrahim spent nearly seven years as an investment banker at Citigroup across London, Amsterdam, and New York, where he worked in the firm's Financial Institutions Group, Benelux Investment Banking team, and Consumer & Retail Investment Banking team.

Co-Founder / Member of Board of Trustees

BaykAI / T3 Foundation

Aykut Firat is a technologist and entrepreneur with a focus on scaling advanced AI architectures. He is the co-founder of BaykAI, where he leads the development of specialized AI solutions across enterprise search, finance, and cloud infrastructure. Beyond his corporate ventures, Aykut serves as a Member of the Board of Trustees for the T3 Foundation, contributing to the strategic oversight of initiatives that foster technological advancement and innovation. He holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

CEO/Engineer

Monogram/Udemy

Eren Bali is a rare "double unicorn" founder who has built over $7 billion in enterprise value across two distinct industries. He first scaled Udemy into a global education powerhouse with over 72 million learners and a peak $3.7 billion valuation before taking it public. He then repeated this success in healthcare with Carbon Health, raising $614 million in venture capital to reach a $3.3 billion valuation and establishing a network of over 120 clinics. Driven by these massive numbers, Bali remains one of Silicon Valley’s most consistent serial successes, currently leveraging his expertise as CTO to lead Udemy’s AI transformation.

Founder and CEO

Enquire AI

Cenk Sidar is the Founder and CEO of Enquire AI, a research platform that combines artificial intelligence with subject-matter expert intelligence to deliver custom insights for investors, executives, and consultants. Before launching Enquire AI in 2018, he served as CEO of Sidar Global Advisors, a strategic advisory and risk assessment firm. He holds an MA in International Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a postgraduate degree in European Studies from SAIS's Bologna Center in Italy, and a BA from Istanbul Bilgi University.

Managing Partner

incTANK Ventures

Karl Ruping is founder and Managing Partner of incTANK Ventures, an early stage investment company focused on life science startups emerging from leading university and research institutes. He has founded and funded a portfolio of translational ventures ranging across intelligent medical devices (AgaMatrix), agricultural biotechnology (Agrivida), and digital health (Misfit Wearables). Karl currently leads incTANK’s investment in Tiba Biotech, an MIT venture developing nucleic acid vaccines and therapeutics, and xGraph AI, a stealth-stage computational drug discovery venture. He is a U.S. patent attorney with a technical background in bioinformatics and large scale computer modelling. He brings over two decades of experience in university innovation, commercial licensing, and international patent strategies.

CEO

Yapay Zekâ Fabrikası (AI Startup Factory)

With nearly 25 years of experience across the US and Turkey, Can Bakır is a seasoned venture builder and the current CEO of Yapay Zekâ Fabrikası (AI Startup Factory). He previously served as Director of New Business Development at Arçelik, where he founded the company’s Venture Studio and Corporate VC frameworks, driving multi-million-dollar value across fintech, healthtech, and sustainability. A veteran of the startup ecosystem, Can has also held senior leadership roles at major tech players like Peak Games, Mynet, and Euro.message, consistently scaling high-growth ventures from inception to market success.

Partner

Tola Capital

Akshay Bhushan is a Partner at Tola Capital, a venture fund that invests in early stage enterprise AI companies. Prior to investing, Akshay was a product leader at several machine learning startups and Associate at LEK Consulting, where he worked on strategic issues for a range of clients in the software, aviation, and healthcare industries.

Partner

212

Kıvanç Aydın’s career spans Goldman Sachs London, capital markets leadership across fixed income, currencies, commodities, and options, and strategic consulting at L.E.K. Consulting New York. He has advised biotech firms on fundraising, product commercialization, and scaling, founded a real estate investment firm with multiple completed projects, and built an angel portfolio across diverse industries. He joins 212 as a Venture Partner, bringing a rare blend of institutional finance, operational strategy, and early-stage investing. He holds a BSc in Economics from LSE and an MBA from Cambridge.