EXECUTIVE BOARD

Taha Meli Arvas was born and raised in Syracuse, New York in November of 1980. He completed a double major at Syracuse University, in bioengineering and finance in 2003. He continued his master’s studies at the City University of New York Graduate Center majoring in political science. He went on to obtain an MBA from Özyeğin University in 2013 and later a master’s in financial engineering in 2014. He is currently conducting a PhD in Financial Engineering at Boğaziçi University. Mr Arvas started his professional career starting a management consulting company providing advisory services to clients in business and investment strategies. He later was a financial columnist for various leading national and international media outlets and appeared on-air as a commentator on his areas of expertise. He was also a part of the Istanbul Financial Risk Management Laboratory for many years evaluating risks faced by firms and nations. Appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Capital Markets of Boards of Türkiye in 2020, he aimed to expand access to capital markets for firms, to increase financial literacy among retail investors, and to combat manipulation in capital markets. Arvas also served as an adjunct professor of finance at Özyeğin University in 2020 and Boğaziçi University between 2021 and 2024. He joined the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in July of 2023 acting as a senior policy advisor to Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and as of February 9th of 2024, he was appointed as the General Manager of EPİAŞ.

Graduated from Electronic and Communication Engineering Department of Yıldız Technical University in 2006, Meriç Emre Aydın began his professional career at TEİAŞ (Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation) as an engineer and worked there between 2009-2016. Upon the establishment of EXIST, he served as Senior Settlement Specialist between 2016-2017 at EXIST. In 2017, he became the Manager of Electricity Market Registration and Settlement. In this role, he has achieved a great deal of experience in electricity market registration and settlement, collateral management, eligible consumer transactions, RESS (Renewable Energy Support Scheme) settlement, unlicensed electricity generation offsetting transactions. Since 21 September 2023, he is appointed as the Director of Market Operations at EXIST. Married with two children, Aydın is fluent in English.

Graduated in 1997 from the Political Science Faculty of Istanbul University, Derya Erbay has worked in the field of tax, financial advisory and audit until 2004. She then completed her MSc in Law and Accounting at the London School of Economics & Political Science in 2006; and has pursued a diploma program, School of Traditional Arts at the Prince Foundation School of Arts in the UK. After she returned to Türkiye in 2009, she has followed a career in the banking sector in the field of regulation and compliance. She then joined EXIST in 2017 and has consecutively worked as Supervisor and the Manager of Regulation and Compliance Department. In the meantime, she has actively contributed to the design of new energy markets on EXIST. She has served as the Head of Working Group Environmental Markets of Europex, European Association of Energy Exchanges for 2018-2020 mandate and was elected as the Board Member of APEx, Association of Power Exchanges in 2023. As of 23 November 2023, Derya was appointed as the Director of Strategy Development. She is married with two children.

Born in 1976 in Istanbul, Mehmet Uçansoy began his career  as a Corporate Resource Planning Systems Project Consultant at Netsis A.Ş. in 2000. He joined Nuh Panel Yapı Elemanları A.Ş. in 2002 and worked as a Project Manager and Financial Analyst and in 2005 he served as the Information Systems Manager responsible for companies at Nuh Grup A.Ş. Since 2008, worked as Çalık Holding Financial Practices Consultant. During this period, he completed many strategic projects in 7 main sectors in group companies, and took on the roles of project manager and business solutions manager. Since 2018, he started to work as an Advisor to the CEO in the Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST). Mehmet Uçansoy, who has experience in corporate resource planning applications, financial systems adaptation, design, financial management, budget management, telco, energy utilities, SAP applications, project management, IT operations management, resource planning in business life and Uçansoy is also a Certified Public Accountant (SMMM). He graduated from Istanbul University Department of Business Administration (English) and postgraduated from Bahçeşehir University (MBA) with his thesis on "The effects of digital transformation in institutions on strategic decision-making" with full points and first in the department. Completing Istanbul Technical University, Software Programming, Middle East Technical University, Information Technologies Program, Bahçeşehir University Project Management Professional programs, Uçansoy continues his doctorate from  Istanbul Commerce University with a full scholarship. Uçansoy, appointed to Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) as a Information Technologies Director in 1 November 2020. Uçansoy speaking English at advanced level, he is married with one children.

Born in 1975 in Kocaeli-Gölcük, Mehmet Haluk Yılmaz graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Management in 1997. Mr. Yılmaz began his career as an  Asistant Auditor  at Internal Audit Board of Kuveyt Türk. He joined Çalık Holding in 2003 and worked as a Strategic Planning Manager, Sales and Marketing Group Manager and Brand Director respectively. He started to work as a consultant at Türk Telekom in 2011 and later served as a Strategy Risk Manager. Mehmet Haluk Yılmaz, who has experience in business, especially in auditing, risk management, strategic management, capital markets, branding , sales and marketing, has been appointed as the Director of Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) on 15 October 2018. Speaking English at advanced level, he is married with two children.

Ramis Kulak was born in Trabzon in 1967. In 1991, he graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Economics. He started to work as a Assistant Accountant in Ministry of Finance in 1992. In 2002, he went to England to learn the culture and language of the country. In 2004, he started to work the Ministry of Finance General Directorate of Public Accounts as the Head of Department. In the General Directorate of Accounting, he was responsible for the General Directorate personnel operations, budget, expenditure, equipment, publication and document management system, especially on Working Capital Funds, Information Technologies hardware technologies, personnel software, accounting software and central applications software. he worked as the Ministry of Finance Representative as a member of the National Lottery Administration Privatization Tender and Evaluation Commission, for one year In 2006,. Ramis Kulak supervised the accounts and transactions of the "International Hodja Ahmet Yesevi Turkish - Kazakh University" as the Turkish side. In 2008, he worked as a member of " Ministry of Finance Ethics Commission " for one year. In 2011, while he left the Ministry of Financeand started his professional career in the private sector by being appointed as the first manager of Aviation Maintenance Repair and Modification Center AŞ (HABOM AŞ). As of 2015, Ramis KULAK, a Certified Public Accountant (YMM) and Independent Auditor, has been appointed as the Finance and Support Services Director of Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) on 2015.

He was born in Sivas in 1973. He graduated from Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Law in 1997. He completed his legal intern in 1998 and started to work as a lawyer. , he was the Chairman of the Audit Board of Sivas Bar Association  between 2004 and  2006. He was elected as a member of the Board of Directors and worked as the General Secretary of Bar between 2004 and 2006. he was elected as the President of Sivas Bar Association In the general assembly held in 2012 and 2014,. During his presidency, he took part in the coordination established between Turkey Bar Association and the Ministry of Justice. He was a member of the City Council and participated in the preparations of the renewal of the legal profession act. He participated as a commission member in the foundation of Dört Eylül Science and Technology University. In 2015, he was elected as a Member of the General Assembly of İSTAC (Istanbul Arbitration Center). For many years, he provided legal consultancy and contracted lawyer services to many public institutions and private sector organizations. He presented in many national conferences on many topics such as Fight Against Child Labor, Restorative Justice and Reintegration of Criminals, Patient and Physician Rights, Violence Against Women. He took an active role in social responsibility projects. He worked as a manager in non-governmental organizations and sports clubs. He resigned from the Presidency of Sivas Bar Association in 2015. He is married and three children.