Melsa Ararat

Dr. Melsa Ararat, the founding director of Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey (CGFT)1 and a professor at Sabanci University School of Management, is a corporate governance (CG) expert with more than 20 years experience in CG reforms and practices, with emphasis on family controlled conglomerates and international joint ventures. She was a member of the CG Committee, which developed CG Principles issued by the Capital Markets Board of Turkey in 2003, and an advisor to S&P’s Governance Services between 2004 and 2008. Currently a scholar of Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, she has a corporate background and has held senior management and board positions in Turkey, the Benelux, Singapore and Japan within Philips group prior to her academic career.
Listed in Marquis Who’s Who as an educator, Dr. Ararat’s scholarly background is Management and Strategy. She is actively involved in policy work as a consultant to the World Bank Group since 2004. She is an academic member of ECGI (European Corporate Governance Institute), a member of NSFM (Network for Sustainable Financial Markets), an advisory member of UN PRI SSE (Principles of Responsible Investing-Sustainable Stock Exchanges), an advisory board member of CBI (Climate Bond Initiative) and an active member of ICGN (International Corporate Governance Network). She sits in ICGN’s Awards Committee and Business Ethics Committee. Dr. Ararat is the director of Independent Women Directors Project and Business Against Domestic Violence Project in Turkey.
Dr. Ararat’s research and commentaries on CG and sustainable investing in Turkey are the most often cited. She coordinates IFC supported global EMCGN (Corporate Governance Emerging Markets Research Network), which brings together the leading scholars and practitioners since 2007 in support of CG reforms in emerging economies. Dr. Ararat also chairs the Academic Board of TKYD (Corporate Governance Association of Turkey).
Dr. Ararat’s specific expertise includes Sustainable Investing. She launched the CDP Climate Change Project in Turkey in 2009 and CDP Water Project in 2015. She authored Sustainable Investing in Turkey and Sustainable Investing in Key Emerging Markets in 2010 and assisted Borsa Istanbul in revitalising the Sustainability Index project prior to its launch in 2014. She leads the local analysts that assess sustainability performance of the firms included in the Index.
1 Co-founder of GBRW (Global Board Ready Women) program and member of EWSDGE (European Women Shareholders Demand Gender Equality) program.