Serdar Çam is a Turkish bureaucrat who is currently the president of

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (, ) is a government department subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Turkey). Focusing on development cooperation, TİKA works in more than 150 countries. It also goes by the name Tu ...

since his appointment in 2011.

Early years

Çam was born 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. His father was a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

for the Ministry of Foreign Affair of Turkey, so he moved to

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and then to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

where he completed his primary education. He moved to

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

as his father was assigned to the Embassy of Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Education

Çam completed his secondary education at the

Türk Maarif Koleji Türk Maarif Koleji (), commonly referred to as Kolej, is a selective secondary education institute in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus. Access to the school is only open to students with top score in a nationwide entrance exam. It is an English-medium sch ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

. He earned a master's degree in management from the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, followed up by a PhD in international marketing from the

Marmara University Marmara University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university, named after the Sea of Marmara, was founded as a university in 1982. However, its ...

Career

Upon the completion of his education, Çam worked as a high level executive for numerous companies and lectured at the Fatih University He was appointed by

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, then-

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Tu ...

, to be the ''Chief of Cabinet'' of his Office in the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

in September 2002. He became the Chief of Cabinet for the

Speaker of the Grand National Assembly This article lists the speakers of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The name of the parliament of Turkey, originally and currently the Grand National Assembly of Turkey () since its establishment on 23 April 1920, has for short periods be ...

in August 2009, during the tenure of

Mehmet Ali Şahin Mehmet Ali Şahin (born 16 September 1950) is a Turkish politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2009 to 2011. He was a member of the parliament for three terms from Istanbul Province and from Antalya Province of the r ...

. He was appointed by Prime Minister

Binali Yıldırım Binali Yıldırım (; born 20 December 1955) is a Turkish politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 27th and last prime minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He w ...

, to be the president of

on June 5, 2011. Serdar Çam is a member of the executive committee of Yunus Emre Institute and a member of the board of trustees of

Ahmet Yesevi University The Qoja Ahmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, or simply Ahmet Yassawi University (, ''Ahmet İasaui universitetı''; ) is a university in the city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan, named for the twelfth-century Sufi poet Khoja Akhm ...

since May 9, 2015.

Personal life

Serdar Çam is married to Lütfiye Selva Çam who is currently serving her second term as a Member of Parliament for Ankara. He met with

, now the

president of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

through a common friend and was later employed by him. It is claimed that he is amongst the closest people to Erdoğan. Çam is fluent in English, French and German. Çam is a member of

Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (, MÜSİAD), is a non-governmental organization. According to 2021 records, MÜSİAD has 89 contact points in Turkey, 255 contact points in 73 countries, and more than 11,000 members. The ass ...

(MÜSİAD). He served as the Deputy Secretary General of MÜSİAD from 1996 to 1999.

References

External links

Profile in Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency website

Profile in the Ahmet Yesevi University website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cam, Serdar Turkish civil servants Living people Türk Maarif Koleji alumni 1966 births Turkish expatriates in Northern Cyprus People from North Nicosia People from Ankara Boston University School of Management alumni Marmara University alumni Middle East Technical University alumni