After graduating from İzmir American Collegiate Institute and then Boğaziçi University, Department of Business Administration, Ms. Bilgün GÜRKAN completed her master's degree at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in 1998.
In 2022, she completed the “Corporate Governance” and “Global Management” certificate programs in INSEAD and was admitted to the “International Board Membership” INSEAD graduate program.
In her business life, she specialised in investment banking, syndicated loans, project finance, corporate trading consultancy and corporate management for more than 20 years by working at SAMBA, ABN AMRO BANK, Standard Bank, Renoir Management Consulting.
She has been working as the Country Manager of the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) Türkiye Representative Office since 2016. She was awarded the 2022 CEO Leadership Award by BBK for her contributions to the Strategy Committee and Sustainability.
Recently she has been working for the development of commercial relations between the Gulf Region and Türkiye. She supports non-governmental organisations by serving as the Chairperson of DEİK Bahrain Türkiye Business Council, Chairperson of the TÜSİAD Gulf Network and a Member of the Board of Directors at the 30 Percent Club. She is an independent member of the Board of Directors and Chairperson of the Risk Committee at Smart Güneş Teknolojileri, which went public in 2022.
She is fluent in English. She is married with 2 children.
