Board
Born in Hakkari in 1970, İrfan Yılmaz graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Management Engineering in 1989. Mr. Yılmaz started his banking career at Kuveyt Türk's Financial Affairs Department in 1990, and was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Inspectors in 1996. He served as the Chairman of the Inspection Board between 1998-2000. Appointed as the Retail Banking Manager in 2000, İrfan Yılmaz was promoted to the Retail Banking and SME Banking Assistant General Manager in 2005, after working in the Retail Banking Department for 5 years. Mr. Yılmaz, who has been serving as the Executive Vice President of Kuveyt Türk Banking Service Group since October 2012, has also been the Chairman of the Board of Architecht since 2015.
Born in 1971 in Amasya, Aslan Demir graduated from Marmara University, Department of International Relations. Mr. Demir started his banking career at Kuveyt Türk Treasury Department in 1995, served as Treasury Manager for 6 years and continued his career at Project Management and Quality Department between 2001 and 2004. In 2005, he was appointed as Project Management and Quality Manager and continued his career as Information Technologies Group Manager following the restructuring in 2007. Mr. Demir was appointed as Kuveyt Türk Assistant General Manager in charge of Strategy in October 2012 and has been a Member of the Board of Directors of Architecht since 2015.
Born in 1971 in Zonguldak, Bahattin Akca graduated from Istanbul University, Department of Business Administration (English). Mr. Akca, who started his career in the Kuveyt Türk family in 1996 as an Assistant Inspector at the Board of Inspectors, served as the Head of the Board of Inspectors for 6 years and continued his career in the Department of Internal Control in 2002. He continued his career as Head of Internal Control between 2003-2007. Bahattin Akca, who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Inspectors since August 2007, has also been working as a Member of the Board of Architecht since June 2023.
Born in 1966 in Sakarya, Bilal Sayın graduated from METU Public Administration in 1990. Bilal Sayın, who started his banking career at Albaraka Türk in 1990, continued his career in the Project and Investment Department of Kuveyt Türk in 1995. Appointed as the Corporate and Commercial Credits Department Manager in 1999 and been serving as the Assistant General Manager responsible for Credits since 2003, Bilal Sayın has also been working as a Member of the Board of Architecht since June 2023.
Ökkeş Emin Balçiçek is the CEO and Board Member of Architecht, a global financial technology company. He was born in Kahramanmaraş in 1983. He completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering at Yıldız Technical University in 2005. Balçiçek added an MBA degree in Business Management from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2012 to his academic career and continues his PhD program (thesis stage) in Computer Engineering at Konya Technical University.
Ökkeş Emin Balçiçek started his professional life as a Software Engineer in 2003 and worked as a Software Specialist in LC Waikiki in 2007. As an important step in his career, he started working as a Corporate Architect at Kuveyt Türk Information Technologies in 2009. During his term of office, he played a critical role in the BOA Banking Transformation Program and made significant contributions. Between 2012 and 2014, Mr. Balçiçek played a pioneering role in the establishment of the company's R&D Center in Konya. From 2014 to 2019, he achieved significant success as R&D and Enterprise Architecture Manager responsible for R&D, Corporate Architecture, Data Governance, User Experience and Corporate Solutions.
In 2019, Mr. Balçiçek joined Architecht, which was on its way to becoming a global technology company, as Assistant General Manager Responsible for Technology with his leadership competencies in the field of technology. As of May 2022, he has been serving as the CEO and Board Member of the company. Mr. Balçiçek, who is married with two children, attaches great importance to family values and maintains his passion for personal development and production.
Ökkeş Emin Balçiçek was born in Kahramanmaraş in 1983 and graduated from Yıldız Technical University Computer Engineering in 2005. In 2012, he gained his master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Istanbul Bilgi University. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in Computer Engineering at Konya Technical (Selçuk) University.
Ökkeş Emin Balçiçek started his professional life as a Software Engineer in 2003 and worked as a Software Specialist in LC Waikiki in 2007. He joined in 2009 Kuveyt Turk Information Technologies as a Enterprise Architect and played an important role in BOA Banking Transformation Program. Between 2012 and 2014, he took the lead of the establishment of Kuveyt Turk Information Technologies R&D Center in Konya. Between 2014 and 2019, he worked as head of the R&D and Enterprise Architecture department responsible for FinTech, User Experience, Enterprise Architecture, Data Management, Infrastructure Applications, Enterprise Solutions.
He had been Assistant General Manager for Technology since 2019, and he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Architecht in May 2022
Deputy General Manager Responsible for Core Banking and Artificial Intelligence
Born in Bursa in 1974, Dr. Hadi Rubacı graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Engineering in 1996. He obtained his master's degree in Computer and Information Systems from Brooklyn College in 2004, and he earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Haliç University in 2018. Having worked in various departments of Kuveyt Türk Information Technologies Group for 17 years, Mr. Rubacı served as the Group Manager for Kuveyt Türk Information Technologies from 2019 to 2022. As of October 1, 2022, he has been serving as the Deputy General Manager responsible for Core Banking and Artificial Intelligence at Architecht.
Born in Denmark in 1980, Zeynep Yasemin Tekşen Altaş graduated from Bilkent University Computer and Informatics Engineering Department in 2002. Ms. Altaş received a master's degree in International Finance and Participation Banking from Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University in 2019 and continues her Ph.D. studies in Business Administration at Gebze Technical University. After working in different business units of Kuveyt Türk Information Technologies Group for more than 17 years, Ms.Altaş has served as the IT-Governance and R&D Manager since 2018. On October 1, 2022, she was appointed as Deputy General Manager of Digital Banking and Payment Systems in Architecht's growing new organization.
Born in Konya in 1986, Yakup Çiçek graduated from Boğaziçi University Department of Business Administration. He has held various positions in the field of information technologies in the Kuveyt Türk family for about 11 years and at Architecht since 2018. He served as the Architecht Professional Services Manager since the first quarter of 2021. On October 1, 2022, he was appointed as Deputy General Manager responsible for Sector, Product and Delivery in Architecht's growing new organization.
Born in İstanbul in 1981, Şule Hatun Avşaroğlu graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Economics and International Relations in 2004. After completing her MBA at the same university, Ms. Avşaroğlu held various positions in Kuveyt Türk's Human Resources Group for more than 17 years and served as the group's human resources manager since 2018. On October 1, 2022, she was appointed as Deputy General Manager responsible for HR, Governance and Sales in Architecht's new organization.
