2019 Events

Celebrating its 15th year in Turkey, AmCham Turkey/ABFT hosted Turkey-U.S. business community at its 15th Anniversary Gala on November 19th. The event was attended by 200+ high-level public & private sector leaders from both sides of the Atlantic. This year, AmCham’s Gala highlighted some very special occasions including; - AmCham Chair Handover from Serra Akçaoğlu of Citi to Tankut Turnaoğlu of P&G - AmCham Awards ceremony celebrating TR-US economic partnership - Brian Smith, President & COO of Coca-Cola being the guest of honor

The third meeting of the AmCham Board “Coffee Talks” series of the year has been hosted by AmCham Board Member & 3M General Manager Mert Büyükyazgan. During the event, the members had the opportunity to visit 3M Innovation Center, an interactive platform combining science and technology, and a space where people can discover and experience new ways of thinking and observing.

The second meeting of the AmCham Board “Coffee Talks” series was co-hosted by AmCham Board Member & Mondelez International Managing Director İhsan Karagöz, together with AmCham Member Nazalı Law. The event is designed in a panel format focusing on "Investment Climate in Turkey, Incentives and Competition" with guest speakers; - Yasemin ESENLİK, Coordinator, Investment Office, Presidency of Turkey - Mehmet Yurdal ŞAHİN, Director General of Incentive and Foreign Investment, Ministry of Industry and Technology

AmCham Turkey Member “Coffee Talks” event was launched with the overall aim to get together AmCham members regulary for best practices sharing on specific topics. The event hosted by AmCham Member & Philip Morris Sabancı CEO Filiz Yavuz Diren, covered specific topics such as "Digital Transformation & Start-up Ecosystem". Utku Tarı, Digital Strategy & Engagement Manager and Tarık Mete, Business Development & Planning Manager discussed digital transformation in trade and Philip Morris’ initiatives supporting start-up ecosystem in Turkey.

AmCham Turkey organized its traditional Back to Business Reception at U.S. Consul General’s residence with members, colleagues and U.S. Consulate representatives.

The second panel session of the “Fostering Business Through Cultural Cooperation”* project has been organized on the Healthcare Sector in Ankara. The panel focused on possible cooperation opportunities between Turkey and the US in healthcare to increase Turkey’s participation in global value chains.

AmCham Turkey, in cooperation with U.S. Chamber of Commerce - U.S. Turkey Business Council, organized a CEO Roundtable event on the occassion of the Turkey visit of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The meeting focused on discussions around Turkey-U.S. economic and trade relations and trade volume goal.

AmCham Turkey, in cooperation with YASED, organized a CEO Roundtable event with Deputy Minister of Trade Tuna Turagay. The meeting focused on "Boosting Bilateral Trade between Turkey and the U.S." in line with the $ 100 Billion trade volume goal set by the Presidents of the two countries.

AmCham Turkey organized its traditional Summer Reception at U.S. Consul General’s residence to celebrate the past business season, focusing on the projects to improve bilateral economic relations. At the Reception, the members also found a chance to bid farewell to Jennifer L. Davis, U.S. Consul General, with an appreciation to her support and cooperation within the last three years.

AmCham Turkey, in collaboration with WLN’s key stakeholders Korn Ferry and EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) Turkey, launched the 5th term of its Executive Mentorship Program at PwC premises. The event launched with an opening speech from Haluk Yalçın, PwC Territory Senior Partner and Korn Ferry Turkey General Manager Banu Başol, and continued with Mentorship training by Rıza Kadılar, EMCC’s Global President. The launch event has been attended by 15 Mentors & 15 Mentees among AmCham members: 3M - Baxter - Citibank - Emerson - Iron Mountain - Johnson Controls - Lilly - Mars - McDonald’s - Mondelez - PepsiCo - Pfizer - Procter&Gamble - PwC – UPS.

AmCham Turkey organized a Roundtable event on Turkey – U.S. Economic Relations in İzmir, on the occasion of the opening of U.S. Commercial Service’s new office at İzmir Chamber of Commerce. William Czajkowski, Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy participated to the meeting as the guest speaker.

AmCham Turkey launched a new event series hosted by AmCham Board Members! AmCham Board "Coffee Talks" Event Series was launched in May, with the overall aim to get together AmCham Members regulary for best practices sharing on specific topics. The launch event that has been hosted by AmCham Board Member & PepsiCo Turkey General Manager Levent Yüksel was designed in a panel format on "Sustainable Investment".

AmCham Turkey Executive Director attended to AmChams in Europe’s Annual Conference in Washington D.C. to engage with companies, organizations and key government agencies to strengthen partnerships and gain insight into the current U.S. business. The program was attended by 30+ directors of AmChams all across Europe.

AmCham Turkey and its member BTS & Partners organized a breakfast seminar on the regulation policies in the digital era, to share views, experiences and best practices. The seminar attended by 20 sector professionals focused on innovation and regulation policies, changing competition policy and industry experiences.

AmCham Turkey, in cooperation with Citibank and IBM, organized a roundtable session on “Emerging Technologies & Innovation in Banking”. The roundtable hosted Gülru Atak, Citi’s Global Head of Innovation at Treasury & Trade Solutions as the guest speaker. The discussions focused on Emerging Technologies & Applications in Banking, Innovation Through Partnerships, Connected Ecosystems Powered by IoT and 5G, as well as best practices from Citi Innovation Labs at Dublin, New York and Singapore.

As part of ATC-TAIK Annual Conference, AmCham Board Members and Members attended to the Economic Plenary Session on “Investing to Grow: Why Companies Prefer to Invest in Turkey” as panelists. AmCham Chair Serra Akçaoğlu, AmCham Board Members Canan Özsoy of GE and Ayşem Sargın of Boeing were among the panelists, together with PepsiCo, DowAksa and Cargill.

AmCham Turkey and Turkey’s leading business magazine Capital cooperated for one of Capital’s best known event series “CEO Club”, this time focusing on “Growth & Employment”. AmCham Chair Serra Akçaoğlu made the opening speech of the summit that hosted AmCham Board Member and P&G Chair Tankut Turnaoğlu, TUSIAD’s Chair, Chairman of Tekfen Holding and Sanko Holding, as well as the CEOs of BSH and Yemek Sepeti as speakers. The summit finalized with an award ceremony on the “Employment Leaders of Turkey”.

AmCham Turkey and its member BMS / Herman Miller organized a seminar on “Design Talk: Fundamental Human Needs & Workplace Wellbeing” with the attendance of Mark Catchlove, Insight Manager at Herman Miller. In the seminar, Mark Catchlove shared Herman Miller’s point of view and ongoing discoveries about Human Dynamics and Work, all grounded in research and first-hand experiences.

AmCham Turkey held its Ordinary Election General Assembly at Hilton Bosphorus with the participation of 40+ member company representatives. Following the opening remarks of AmCham Chair Serra Akçaoğlu, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Jeffrey Hovenier took the stage and highlighted the importance of U.S.-Turkey economic relations as well as AmCham’s role in further improving the bilateral trade and investments. The General Assembly also hosted Arda Ermut, President of the Presidency Investment Office as a guest of honor. During the General Assembly, new members of AmCham Board of Directors were elected. The new Board of Directors for the 2019-2021 period are comprised of CEOs/Regional Directors of U.S. member companies including; Citibank, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Dow Chemical, PwC, Boeing, Baker & McKenzie, PepsiCo, Mondelez International, Heidrick & Struggles, 3M, MSD, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM, Medtronic, Nielsen, UPS, GittiGidiyor/eBay, Hilton, Honeywell.

AmCham Turkey, with its strategic partners EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and Heidrick & Struggles organized “Women in the Digital Age” seminar on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. The event that hosted 180+ participants kicked off with an opening speech from Serra Akçaoğlu, Chair of AmCham Turkey and followed by remarks from Associate Professor Hatice Karahan, Senior Advisor to the President, Republic of Turkey on women and business. The event hosted two separate panels from Human Resources and CEO point of view.

AmCham Turkey/ABFT hosted the kick-off event of the ‘Fostering Business Through Cultural Cooperation’ Project on February 22, 2019, with the support of the Turkish Fulbright Commission and the American Turkish Society (ATS) and the sponsorship of Dow Turkey. The kick-off event, which marks the beginning of a broader effort to boost economic ties between Turkey and the U.S through promoting mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue, featured a panel moderated by İhsan Necipoğlu, Board Member of AmCham Turkey and President of Dow Turkey and Central Asia.

AmCham Turkey Public Affairs Committee members attended to a roundtable meeting with Rick Johnston, Citi International Government Affairs Managing Director. The meeting focused on U.S. foreign economic relations including trade outlook, investment and export controls, new trade agreements.

AmCham Turkey/ABFT Board Members participated to a roundtable meeting with Mustafa Varank, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology. The meeting focused on discussions around investment prospects between Turkey and the U.S.

AmCham Turkey organized a roundtable event with Tim Kobe, the founder and CEO of Eight Inc., the strategic designer who worked with the world’s most iconic brands such as Apple, Virgin Atlantic, Citibank, Nike and Tesla. The meeting focused on Tim’s presentation and experience on Design Thinking & Artificial Intelligence, Future of Retail, Designing Human Experiences and Apple's story.

AmCham Turkey organized a workshop with the participation of its member companies as the leading representatives of the U.S. investments in Turkey. The workshop aimed to get feedback on the opportunities and challenges of the business and investment climate and pave path to further increase Turkey's competitiveness in the global arena. AmCham and PwC’s recent report on U.S. investments was presented to member companies for the first time after intensive work and deep analysis.