Güler Sabancı (born 1955) is a Turkish businesswoman, a third-generation member of the
Sabancı family
The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey.
The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in the 1930s. Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the progenitor of the Sabancı family, moved from his native Kayseri to Ada ...
. Güler Sabancı continue her roles as Chair of the Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Founding Chair of the Sabancı University Board of Trustees, and Chair of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum Board of Directors. As of 2024, she was listed as the 80th most powerful woman in the world by ''Forbes'', which first recognized her in 1999.
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Education and early career
Güler was born the daughter and first child of
İhsan Sabancı and his wife Yüksel in 1955 in
Adana
Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...
, Turkey. After finishing high school at
TED Ankara College
TED Ankara College Foundation Schools is a group of private schools in Turkey. It consists of kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools. Its Ä°ncek Campus, considered sizeable with 141,000 square meters of enclosed and over 309,000 square ...
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 ( ...
, she was educated in
business administration
Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization.
Overview
The administration of a business includes the performance o ...
at
Boğaziçi University
Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...
in Istanbul. In 1978, she started her professional career at LasSA, a family-owned
tire
A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...
production company in
Kocaeli Province
Kocaeli Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, Ä°zmit, which is thus also sometim ...
. She was then appointed general manager of KordSA, a position she held for 14 years. Later, Güler Sabancı became a member of the board of directors at Sabancı Holding, heading the tires and reinforcement materials group, as well as having responsibility for
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...
.
Sabancı Group
She started her career at the tire manufacturing company of the group and held various roles at the other group companies. Güler Sabancı continue her roles as Chair of the Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Founding Chair of the Sabancı University Board of Trustees, and Chair of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum Board of Directors. She will continue to support Turkey's modernization journey and social development through her pioneering work in philanthropy, education, and the arts.
She is the first and only female member of European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). In October 2013, she was named 2nd on ''Fortune''s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business (outside USA).
She has received several awards for philanthropy and leadership including the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award,
the Clinton Global Citizen Award,
a Raymond Georis Innovative Philanthropist Award
and a European School of Management Responsible Leadership Award.
[European School of Management Responsible Leadership Award](_blank)
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In 2012, Sabancı was appointed a member of the board of United Nations Global Compact
The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to get businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is the world's ...
, the UN's highest-level advisory body involving business, civil society, labour and employers organizations.
Awards, decorations and honorary degrees
*2023 European Sustainability Award – Prix Film4Climate
Orders and decorations
* ''2007'' – : Order of Leopold II
The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...
* ''2009'' – : Order of Civil Merit
The Royal Order of Civil Merit (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OMC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and the Order ...
* ''2010'' – : Silbernes Ehrenkreuz der Republik Österreich
* ''2010'' – : National Order of the Legion of Honour
Awards
* ''2006'' – : Honorary Degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
by Drexel University
Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...
* ''2007'' – : Corporate Partner Award by ''American - Turkish Society''
* ''2009'' – : ''Raymond Georis Prize for Innovative Philanthropy'' by Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...
* ''2011'' – : Schumpeter Prize in memory of the famous Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter
* ''2011'' – : ESMT Responsible Leadership Award by European School of Management and Technology
The European School of Management and Technology, also known as ESMT Berlin, is a private non-profit business school based in Berlin, Germany. The business school was founded in 2002 by 25 companies and institutions and offers a range of Master o ...
* ''2011'' – : Clinton Global Citizen Award by Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...
References
External links
Creating Emerging Markets Interview
at the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabanci, Guler
1955 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Adana
TED Ankara College Foundation Schools alumni
Guler Sabanci
Boğaziçi University alumni
Turkish women in business
Turkish chief executives
Order of Civil Merit members
People from Talas, Turkey