BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for ASELSAN company, Turkey’s largest defense electronics company with 2017 sales of $1.45 billion and 5800 employees. Dr. Görgün was elected as Chairman of ASELSAN’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer in April 2018. Dr. Görgün was also appointed as the Vice Chairman for Board of Directors at SADEC since April 2018.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Görgün was the rector of Gebze Technical University in Turkey. Previously, Dr. Görgün was the founder and department chairman at Yildiz Technical University (YTU). During his chairmanship, he led the establishment of many graduate programs. Dr. Görgün also served as a Deputy Manager of the Institute of Science and Vice Rector for Yildiz Technical University. In addition, he served as a board member of YTU Technopark, BAP Coordinate, Science Application and Research Center, and Editor of YTU Sigma Engineering and Science Journal.

Dr. Görgün has served as the Turkey’s delegate for the European Union 7th Framework Program, Board of Director of Informatics Valley and member of Turkey Academy studies. He has contributed to numerous national and international articles, reports, editorial editions and projects.

Dr. Görgün holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a bachelors and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Yildiz Technical University.

Prof. Dr. Hatim Mohammed Behairy is a research Professor and the director of the Communication and Information Technology Research Institute (CITRI) at King Abdulaziz City for science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Behairy has been serving as board member at SADEC since November 2016. He has more than 15 years of experience in both industry and academia in Saudi Arabia and North America relating to telecommunications, software development, and management.

Dr. Behairy’s research results have been published in leading journals and conferences. He worked extensively, and he is still working, on the design of new error correction coding techniques for next-generation broadband wireless communication systems, using turbo-coding principles. His research interests are in Secure communication systems, UWB systems.

Dr. Behairy holds a doctorate in Information Technology and a master’s in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University, Virginia, USA. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from King Saud University.

Okan Turan is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Aselsan company, Turkey’s largest defense electronics company with 2016 sales of $1.1 billion and 5200 employees. Mr. Turan has been serving as a board member at SADEC since November 2016.

Mr. Turan began his professional career in the field of capital markets as a Financial Analyst at Data Securities Company and continued to work as a Chief Financial Analyst at Bayindir Securities Company. He then went on to work as a Budget and Planning Manager at Total Oil (formerly Elf Petroleum) and as a Budget Control and Reporting Manager at Tirsan Trailer Company. He also served as the Financial Controller at Reckitt Benckiser Turkey office and as the Finance Director based in Bucharest Romania.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Turan served as the Vice President for Finance - Chief Financial Officer at Şişecam Glass Packing Group in Russian Operations responsible for Russia and Ukraine based in Moscow and later serving as the Group Corporate Controller at Anadolu Efes.

Mr. Turan received his master’s degree in Management Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and his bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University.