Erkan becomes the first woman to lead the central bank after her appointment by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan-
Metropolis Desk-
Hafize Gaye Erkan has been named governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, an institution expected to play a key role in efforts to boost the country’s crisis-hit economy.
Erkan becomes the first woman to head the institution after being appointed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erkan becomes the first woman to head the institution after being appointed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Although the 41-year-old has a distinguished career in US business, with stops in banking, investment, risk management, technology, and digital innovation, little is known about Erkan in her own country.
In 1982, Erkan was born in Istanbul to an engineer father and a math and physics teacher mother. She graduated second in her class from Istanbul High School, one of the best public schools in Turkey.
She majored in industrial engineering at one of Turkey’s most esteemed universities, Bogazici University, and later graduated with a doctorate in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton University in the US in 2006.
Later, in 2015 and 2016, respectively, Erkan attended business programs at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School.
In 2005, Erkan began working for the international investment bank Goldman Sachs as an associate. By 2011, she had attained the position of managing director.
She started working at First Republic Bank in 2014, and in 2021 she was promoted to co-CEO.
Erkan was the only under-40 woman holding a president or CEO title at one of the top 100 US banks when she was nominated to the 40 Under 40 lists by Crain New York Business and the San Francisco Business Times in 2018.
The Hafize Gaye Erkan First Republic Fellowship Program for young women and girls was recently established with the help of Erkan, who supports the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools. Erkan was named CEO of Greystone, a real estate finance and investment firm with offices in New York, in June 2022.
Mehmet Simsek, a proponent of conventional economic policies, was appointed last week as the minister of finance and the treasury of Turkey by Erdogan. The selection hinted at a turnback from what is generally regarded as Erdogan’s unconventional economic policies, including as his conviction that inflation is fueled by rising interest rates.
Source – Al Jazeera
