Hayri Çulhacı has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Sabancı Holding.

According to a statement from the company, during the General Assembly held in honor of the Sabancı Group’s 100th anniversary, a decision was made to have a professional executive as the Chairman of the Board for the first time in the history of the company. Following the Board of Directors election at the General Assembly, Güler Sabancı, who has been serving as the Chairman of the Board for 21 years, stepped down while Tayfun Bayazıt, an experienced figure in finance and business, was elected as an independent member of the Board of Directors. During the Board of Directors meeting held after the General Assembly, Hayri Çulhacı, who has been a Board Member of Sabancı Group for about 35 years, was appointed as the Chairman of the Board as part of the new term’s assignment.

WHO IS HAYRI ÇULHACI?
Çulhacı graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences in 1978. He obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Northeastern University in the United States in 1986. Between 1979 and 1990, Çulhacı served as an Account Specialist and Department Head at the Ministry of Finance. In 1990, he joined Akbank as Deputy General Manager. Since 2009, Çulhacı has taken on roles such as Member of the Board of Directors of Akbank, and since 2010, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, while also chairing the Audit Committee, Corporate Governance Committee, and Top-Level Risk Committee. Çulhacı retired from Akbank in 2020. Apart from serving as a Board Member of Aksigorta AŞ and Avivasa Emeklilik ve Hayat AŞ, Çulhacı also took on the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors at Ak Yatırım Menkul Değerler AŞ and Ak Portföy Yönetimi AŞ. Still serving as a Board Member and Vice President at Sabancı Foundation, Çulhacı assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of Sabancı Holding after Güler Sabancı, becoming the first professional executive in Sabancı Group’s history to hold this position. Çulhacı previously held positions such as Member of the Executive Board of Sabancı Holding, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors at Akbank, and various board memberships in Sabancı Holding and its subsidiaries.