The GW-CIBER invites you to:

Marketing One of the 'Other' Emerging Markets:
How Turkey Competes for Foreign Direct Investment
in the Competitive Global Economy

Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m.
The Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E Street, NW
in The City View Room (7th floor)
(Reception to Follow)

RSVP Below

When one hears of investment in emerging markets, most of the discussion seems to center on China and India. But what about the other emerging markets, like Turkey? How does Turkey compete for foreign direct investment capital? What challenges has it faced? What opportunities/benefits does it have to offer a foreign investor? Our panel discussion will examine these questions from the perspectives of the Turkish government, the American business community, the Turkish business community, and an academic country expert.

Panelists Include:

Mr. Abdullah Akyuz
U.S. Representative, Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association

Ms. Alev Günay
Director, Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey

Ambassador James Holmes
President & CEO, American Turkish Council

Dr. Ian Lesser
Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund

Moderated by:

Dr. Liesl Riddle
Associate Professor of International Business and International Affairs,
The George Washington University

 

Mr. Abdullah Akyuz
U.S. Representative, Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association

Abdullah Akyuz is the President of TUSIAD-US, the US Representative Office of Turkish Business Federation. Much like the US Business Roundtable, TUSIAD is comprised of the CEOs of the major industrial, financial and service companies in Turkey. Between 1983-1990, Abdullah Akyuz served on the Capital Markets Board, the Turkish equivalent of the SEC. In June 1990, he moved to the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). In 1994, Mr. Akyuz became the Executive Vice-Chairman of the ISE, overseeing the operations of several departments until his departure from the ISE. Mr. Akyuz has also served as a Board Member of the ISE-Settlement and Custody Bank, Inc., as well as a member of Treasury's "Domestic Borrowing Advisory Board". Mr. Abdullah Akyuz received his B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Ankara (1983), his M.A. degree in Economics from the University of California-Davis (1986), and graduated from Wharton School's Advanced Management Program (1996).

 

Ms. Alev Günay
Director, Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey

Alev Günay joined the ISPAT North America team in August 2007; her responsibilities include consulting with companies on their global expansion, promoting and supporting direct investments into Turkey. Prior to her current position, Alev worked for a software company where she designed and executed marketing and communications strategies on a global scale, with particular emphasis on market entry into Europe. Her background also includes experience working for the French Government Tourist Office where she developed marketing communications for the United States. She served as Senior Editor of five E-newsletters and managed website content and E-marketing initiatives. Alev Günay holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a concentration in International Business and French from Nazareth College of Rochester. She is fluent in Turkish and French.

 

Ambassador James Holmes
President & CEO, American Turkish Council

Ambassador James Holmes (Ret.) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American-Turkish Council, a bilateral, non-profit organization dedicated to the strengthening of U.S.-Turkish trade, investment, defense and cultural relations, and to the promotion of awareness and understanding of U.S.-Turkish issues. Ambassador Holmes was elected to the Board of Directors of the American-Turkish Council, and subsequently as President of the ATC, in April 2005. The ATC, complemented by its companion cultural organization the American Friends of Turkey, has approximately 200 corporate and individual Members in Turkey and the United States. It is the foremost organization for the promotion of commerce, cultural awareness and public-private understanding between Turkey and the United States. Ambassador Holmes is a 37-year veteran of the United States Foreign Service with overseas experience in Latvia, Turkey, Norway, New Zealand and Pakistan. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Ankara, Turkey from 1992-1995. Subsequently, he was the President's Coordinator for Assistance to Central and Eastern Europe, Ambassador to Latvia, Special Envoy for the Balkans, founder of the Department of State's Office of eDiplomacy, and the Department's Chief Knowledge Officer and Deputy Chief Information Officer. Ambassador Holmes was born in Upstate New York. He was educated at Colgate University, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and the National Defense University. He is married to Constance Cooper Holmes. They have two married daughters, and to their great delight, five grandchildren.

 

Dr. Ian Lesser
Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund

Ian Lesser is Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, where he focuses on Mediterranean affairs, Turkey, and international security issues. Prior to joining GMF, Dr. Lesser was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and was Vice President and Director of Studies at the Pacific Council on International Policy (the western partner of the Council on Foreign Relations). He came to the Pacific Council from RAND, where he spent over a decade as a senior analyst and research manager specializing in strategic studies. From 1994-1995, he was a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for Turkey, Southern Europe, North Africa, and the multilateral track of the Middle East peace process. A frequent commentator for international media, he has written extensively on international security issues. His books and policy reports include Beyond Suspicion: Rethinking US-Turkish Relations (2008); Security and Strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean (2006); Global Trends, Regional Consequences: Wider Strategic Influences on the Black Sea (2008); Countering the New Terrorism (1999); and A Sense of Siege: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (with Graham Fuller, 1995). Dr. Lesser was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and received his D. Phil from Oxford University. He is a senior advisor to the Luso-American Foundation in Lisbon, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Atlantic Council, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the advisory boards of the International Spectator, Turkish Policy Quarterly, and Insight Turkey, and has been a senior fellow of the Onassis Foundation in Athens.

Dr. Liesl Riddle
Associate Professor of International Business and International Affairs,
The George Washington University

Dr. Liesl Riddle is an Associate Professor of International Business and International Affairs at The George Washington University. She holds a BA and MA in Middle Eastern Studies, an MBA in Marketing/International Business, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Riddle has written extensively on the topics of international entrepreneurship, trade and investment promotion, and diaspora roles in homeland economic development. Dr. Riddle has conducted fieldwork in Egypt and Turkey and among diaspora communities in the USA and Europe (Afghan, Armenian, Cuban, Ghanaian, Iranian, Lebanese, Liberian, and Palestinian communities). She is on the editorial board of two journals, Education Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues and the Journal of Education for Business. She is an ad-hoc expert for the United Nations regarding diaspora investment and entrepreneurship policies. Before assuming an academic position, Dr. Riddle held several professional positions in the field of market research on both the client and supplier side of the industry. Most recently she was the Director of Research for the international market research firm, FH&R in Houston, Texas. She has served as a consultant for several organizations, including the World Bank, the US Department of State, the Moroccan-American Trade and Investment Council, the Grameen Bank, IBM, and other private-sector clients. Dr. Riddle currently serves as co-director for the GW Diaspora research and policy program within GW's Elliott School for International Affairs' Institute for Global Studies. She is also a faculty coordinator for GW's Center for International Business Education and Research (GW-CIBER) in the area of Business & Society Issues. Dr. Riddle has received Best Reviewer Awards from the Academy of International Business and the Academy of Management. She also has received several GW teaching awards, including the 2006 School of Business' Teaching Excellence Award. She is the co-principle investigator of three consecutive research grants funded by the GW-CIBER focusing on diaspora homeland investment issues.

 

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