Dr. Melsa Ararat
Dr. Ararat is an engaged scholar with a corporate background, and the Executive Director of ILLAC Ltd. In addition to her academic work in top universities in Turkey and the Netherlands, she has been a trusted advisor to boards, international financial institutions and institutional investors, combining scholarly rigor with practical experience based on her professional career in Turkey, Japan, Asia Pacific, UK and Europe.
As an advocate of corporate governance reforms in emerging economies, she worked with the World Bank Group between 2007 and 2018 and coordinated IFC’s CG Emerging Markets Research Network. Dr. Ararat also served as a governor of International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) between 2015 and 2021 and UN Global Compact Turkey Network between 2016 and 2022. Her work laid the conceptual framework for BIST Sustainability Index for which she oversaw the rating process for the initial years.
A fellow of Royal Society of Arts and Commerce, she currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Net Zero Turkey and Human Development Foundation and chairs the Board of 30% Club Turkey. Previously she served as the director of Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum, of which she was the founding director up until 2022, with flagship projects such as CDP Turkey Climate Change and Water Programs, Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project, Independent Women Directors (IWD) Platform and 30% Club Turkey Campaign.
A Visiting Professor at Özyeğin University Business School, Dr. Ararat works closely with EBRD since 2019 as an advisor, with a focus on gender diversity and equality programs.
