Ankara: Former Wall Street executive Dr Hafize Gaye Erkan is the first woman to be elected as the governor of Turkey’s New Central Bank on Friday. She replaces Sahap Kavcioglu.
Erkan’s appointment comes within the framework of new appointments that affected several important government positions in the country, led by the foreign and intelligence portfolios.
The newly appointed central bank governor said, “I would like to thank Turkey, my country and my state representatives for providing such an opportunity and vision to Turkish women.”
What do we know about Hafize Gaye Erkan?
Forty-one-year-old Hafize Gaye Erkan, a US-based banker known as the “Awesome Turkish Girl”, is a graduate of Istanbul’s Bogazici University.
She earned her doctorate in operations research and financial engineering at Princeton University.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Erkan obtained two educational programs – Management Science from Harvard Business School and Leadership from Stanford University.
She held high-level positions at US banking and finance institutions including Goldman Sachs and San Francisco-based First Republic Bank.
Erkan has significant experience in banking, investment, risk management, technology and digital innovation, and is a member of the advisory board of the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University.
