Mehmet Ömer Koç (born 24 March 1962) is a Turkish businessman, art collector, and chairman of

Koç Holding Koç Holding A.Ş. () is a Turkish multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. It operates as the country's largest company, and the only to be listed on the Fortune Global 500 as of 2024. Koç Holding's contributio ...

. In 2013 ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' estimated his net worth at US$1.1 billion.

Early life

Koç was born on 24 March 1962 in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, Turkey. A third generation of the

Koç family Koç is a Turkish family of business people founded by Vehbi Koç, one of the wealthiest people in Turkey. His grandsons, the third generation of the Koç family, today run Turkey's largest group of companies, Koç Holding, the only Turkish comp ...

, he is the second son of

Rahmi Koç Mustafa Rahmi Koç (born 9 October 1930) is a Turkish businessman. In 2016, Forbes ranked him No. 906 richest person in the world with a net worth of US$2.6 billion. In 2013, Koç was the single highest taxpayer in Turkey, totalling 37.5&nb ...

and grandson of

Vehbi Koç Ahmet Vehbi Koç (20 July 1901 – 25 February 1996) was a Turkish billionaire, businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Koç Group, one of Turkey’s largest groups of companies. During his lifetime, he came to be one of ...

, founder of

. He graduated from

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, attended

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding ...

School in England, studied at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

before graduating from Columbia College in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

. He obtained his MBA from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and one of ...

in 1989.

Career

Koç began his business career working at Kofisa Trading Company in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. He joined the family business in 1992 as a finance coordinator and was vice president and president of the Energy Group. He became a member of the board of directors in 2004 and vice chairman in 2008. Shortly after his brother,

Mustafa Vehbi Koç Mustafa Vehbi Koç (October 29, 1960 – January 21, 2016) was a Turkish businessman and a third generation member of the Koç family. He is best known as the chairman of Koç Holding, a position he held from 2003 until his death in 2016. Privat ...

, died after a heart attack in 2016, Koç was elected chairman of

, Turkey's largest company, in 2016. The company's output contributes nearly 10 percent of Turkey's total GDP and is the only Turkish company on the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

list. He is also chairman of Tüpraş, the largest oil refiner and industrial company in the country. He is chairman of the board of trustees of

Koç University Koç University () is a private non-profit research university in Istanbul, Turkey. It started education in temporary buildings in İstinye in 1993, and moved to its current Rumelifeneri campus near Sarıyer in 2000. Koç University is ranked hi ...

. As of January 2018, Koc owns 0.74% of

. He sits on the steering committee of the

Bilderberg meeting The Bilderberg Meeting (also known as the "Bilderberg Group", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally ...

. Koç is chairman of the board of trustees at the Turkish Education Foundation ( Turkish: ''Türk Eğitim Vakfı'', commonly abbreviated as ''TEV'').

Art collection

Not much of Koç's personal life is known as he shies away from the public and media. He lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and is known for his fondness for both contemporary and

classical art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

. He is a sponsor of the

Istanbul Biennial The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Istanbul Biennial p ...

and Turkey's pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. He established the nonprofit art space

Arter Arter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Harry Arter * Jared Maurice Arter * Kingsley Arter Taft * Philip and Uriah Arter, after whom Philip and Uriah Arter Farm is named * Robert Arter * Solomon Arter, after whom Solomon Art ...

in 2010. For his sponsorship of Turkey's contemporary art scene, he was named by

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

as of the "100 Most influential people in 2016 in the contemporary artworld." He also maintains an interest in

Ottoman art Turkish art ( Turkish: Türk sanatı) refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical area of what is present day Turkey since the arrival of the Turks in the Middle Ages. Turkey also was the home of much significant art pro ...

, and has a large

Iznik pottery Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of İznik in Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. Turkish stylization is a reflectio ...

collection. He is reported to have the finest private collection of objects and books about Ottoman history in the world.

References

External links

Official Website
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koc, Mehmet Omer 1962 births Koç family Turkish billionaires Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Business School alumni Living people Turkish art collectors Turkish art patrons Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group Robert College alumni People educated at Millfield Georgetown University alumni