Ankara, Türkiye – Türkiye’s newly appointed Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan took office on Friday, becoming the first woman to head the bank, according to Türkiye’s news agency Anadolu.
Erkan, 41, holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Istanbul’s Bogazici University, graduating as valedictorian, and a doctorate in operations research and financial engineering at Princeton University.
Erkan also completed two training programmes on management sciences at Harvard Business School and leadership at Stanford University.
With a number of top posts at major companies under her belt, she served as co-CEO of US-based First Republic Bank and member of the board of directors at Marsh McLennan, a services firm in fields of risk, strategy, and insurance, a managing director of investment bank Goldman Sachs, and a member of the board of jewelry firm Tiffany & Co.
Erkan, the first woman under the age of 40 to hold the title of president or CEO at one of America’s 100 largest banks, made it to the “40 Under 40” lists of both San Francisco Business Times and Crain New York Business.