SPEAKERS

M. İlker AYCI was born in Istanbul in 1971 and graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration in 1994. Mr. AYCI conducted research at Leeds University (U.K.) in the field of Political Science in 1995. He obtained his Master’s degree from Marmara University in International Relations in 1997. Having begun his professional career in 1994, Mr. AYCI held a variety of positions at Kurtsan İlaçları A.Ş. and Universal Dış Ticaret A.Ş. Subsequently, he went on to İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, where he served as Counselor to the then Mayor of Istanbul, H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, taking part in a number of development projects in Turkey’s largest city.

Appointed as General Manager at Başak Sigorta in 2005, Mr. AYCI took over the helm of one of the largest insurance companies in Turkey, Güneş Sigorta, in 2006 after a successful privatization. Overseeing the company’s growth in business and value, Mr. AYCI remained in this position until his appointment in 2011 as President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT). At the time, ISPAT was the only official body tasked with promoting Turkey’s investment environment globally and providing assistance to international companies’ investment projects in the country. Between 2013 and 2015, Mr. AYCI also assumed the position of Vice President, and then President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), the umbrella organization of over 170 investment promotion agencies from 130 countries around the globe.