Having graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Pharmacy in 1991, Elif Çelik entered the pharmaceutical industry at Deva İlaç in 1992, then joined the Eczacıbaşı Group in 1993 and worked in different Health Group companies (Eczacıbaşı Rhone Poulenc, Eczacıbaşı İlaç, Eczacıbaşı- Zentiva, Eczacıbaşı-Baxter, Eczacıbaşı-Baxalta) served in strategic roles for 13 years, including General Manager and Health Group President.

Representing Eczacıbaşı Group in many international platforms in the field of Health/Pharmaceuticals and enabling it to step into many strategic collaborations, Çelik also contributes to TÜSİAD (Health Group Member), IEİS (Pharmaceutical Industry Employers & Union (Board Member), DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations) at the national level. Board of Directors / Chairman of the Turkish-Indian Business Council) and served as a Member of the Board of Directors in many companies of the Group for many years.

Çelik, who was selected for her work on the Integrated Health Model in the “40 Women to Watch over 40” 2017 list published by Forbes globally every year, was also included in the “50 Most Powerful Female CEOs in Turkey” list published every year by the Economist magazine in 2012-2018. It has regularly been in the top 25 between the years.

Elif Çelik, who left the Eczacıbaşı Group in 2019 and gave a different direction to her individual career, established ThreeD Strategic Management and Leadership Consultancy in order to reflect her leadership knowledge to a wider platform in the health sector. She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Kurtsan İlaç, Kurtsan Medikal and Otacı Herbal Products companies, which are well-established companies in the health sector, and the Member of the Management and Executive Board of Centurion İlaç, one of the leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Elif Çelik, who is also a healthcare entrepreneur, is the Founding President of Nevofarma Pharmaceuticals and Health Products and a Co-Founder of ThinkHealth Platform.

Standing out with its active support and initiatives for women to take an active role in business life and strategic decision mechanisms, Çelik is also a voluntary advocate of developing well-equipped and confident leaders of the future. Çelik, focusing on these two targets; She is also an active member of non-governmental organizations such as YKKD (Women in the Board of Directors), KAGIDER (Entrepreneurial Women’s Association), PWN (Professional Women’s Network) and YGA (Young Guru Academy).

Duygu Nahum completes her education at Robert College after Istanbul Boys’ High School. She started to do internships in companies such as Arcon Kozmetik and Vestel during the summers of her high school life. While she is studying Economics and Politics at the University of Virginia in the United States of America, she is studying Psychology as a minor. In the summers, she works in the Investment / Mergers and Valuations departments of Coca-Cola, İşbank. She begins working for an advertising agency in New York after graduating, where some of the clients include Microsoft, Ford, Walgreens, and Amazon. On the other hand, she attends New York University in the evenings to complete her MA in digital marketing. Then she returns to Turkey with a job offer from Coca-Cola Turkey and is promoted to the Brand Manager of Fanta, Sprite and Schweppes first, and then CocaCola Turkey. She is then placed in a position where all gaseous brands (Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes) are looking at the nations of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. She participates in initiatives including the Fanta Youth Festival, the Coca-Cola Ramadan and Meals Campaigns and Promotions, as well as the Central Asian Coca-Cola launches. In 2017, she accompanied Kurtsan arm in arm with her cousin Saltuk. In addition to her responsibilities at Kurtsan, she is currently studying Italian.

Saltuk Karayalcin is the Vice President of Kurtsan Group, jointly responsible for its global turnover in healthcare and beauty industries based in Turkey. He is also enrolled in the Doctor of Business Administration at Geneva Business School and he is a lecturer at Istanbul Kultur University, teaching International Trade Strategy. Besides, he is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Yanindayiz Foundation, LEAD Network Europe, CEOP – CEO Platform of Turkey, Disyonder International Trade Foundation and EADNetwork amongst others.

As an London School of Economics (LSE) MSc in Management graduate, combined with multiple award winning Product Design background (including Red Dot Design), and global durable goods industry experience, Saltuk has obtained expertise in Strategic Planning, Family Business Governance, Innovation and/or Product and Process Development, Project Management, Operational Excellence, Business Development, Financial Analysis and Resilience, Sales and Retail Strategy and Production Excellence (6 Sigma & Lean).

İlker Durgun started his professional career as a Quality Control Engineer at Procter & Gamble in 1980. Between 1980 and 1999, he worked in different positions at P&G – Quality Control, Process Engineering, Project Leadership, Chemical Engineering, rotating in 6 different production departments and supply management departments – in many projects, programs, benchmarking and optimization at home and abroad. After taking an active role in transformation studies, he most recently served as Operations Coordinator, and started working as Plant Director within Abdi İbrahim Pharma in 1999. After a two-year period at Abdi İbrahim Pharma between 1999 and 2001, he transferred to Has Food Company.

Durgun, who worked as Plant Director at Has Food Company between 2001 and 2002, took on the position of Plant Director at Bilim Pharmaceuticals as of 2002. During this process, he led the development of productivity, capacity increase, organizational effectiveness and installation of new technologies. He took an active role in the new factory project established in Gebze Organized Industry, its move from Maslak to Gebze, and the successful receipt of the EFQM Quality Award.

Durgun transferred to Sanofi in 2008, where he assumed responsibilities in various regions. After working for 8 years as the President of Turkey Industrial Operations, he started to look at the Eurasia and Middle East region. After 2 years here, he became the Regional Group President and served as Eurasia, Middle East, Africa and Business Partner for 3 years. During this 13-year period at Sanofi, he led the implementation of many projects, technology transfers, programs, benchmarking studies and systems in factories, and led the Lüleburgaz Pharmaceutical facility to be successfully placed in the top 3 among all Sanofi Factories. He led the factory optimization studies and ensured efficiency and cost effectiveness by establishing new factories in the region he was responsible for and managing the closure or sale of inefficient factories. He took an active role in managing 7 separate regional facilities supplying more than 25 countries in Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa. He worked at Dubai-based Global Pharma as a member of the Board of Directors and took part in intra-regional purchasing and sales. He worked at the Executive Manager level in the region he was responsible for.

İlker Durgun continues to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of Kurtsan Holding Group of Companies as of 2023.

Atakan Özdemir started his professional career at TRT in 1987. After working in different positions in national broadcasting organizations operating in the media sector between 1987 and 1997, he moved to the personal care sector in 1999 and worked in the sales and marketing departments of L’Oréal Turkey.

In 2006, Atakan Özdemir joined Novartis Turkey and after working as a sales and marketing executive, he served as Novartis Vaccines Country Manager.

In 2012, he started to work as Business Unit Director at Actavis Turkey. Following the merger of Allergan and Actavis companies, he assumed responsibility as the business development and special projects director responsible for Turkey, Middle East and Africa region within Allergan.

As of 2016, he worked as the Business Unit Director of mother-baby, adult and medical nutrition departments at Danone Nutricia, which operates in the field of nutrition, in different roles in Turkey and global teams.

Between 2011 and 2018, he worked for strengthening civil society as the founding president of Disaster Coordination Association. Published in 2012, Mr. Özdemir is the author of a book titled “Essays on Sales” and holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ege University. He received his master’s degree in Operations and Supply Chain Management from the University of Liverpool. He is currently a final year student at Istanbul University AUZEF Department of Philosophy.

Atakan Özdemir joined Kurtsan Holding Group of Companies as CEO in September 2023.