Jale Ergelen, Board Chair

Jale is the manager of the Turkish Education Foundation dormitory in Izmir and oversees all operations of the 370-student dorm. She has several years of experience managing dorms. Jale has been with the Sparks program from the very beginning, first as a facilitator. She has been instrumental in obtaining the support  of TEV for the launch and continuation of the program at their Izmir dorm. She is graduate of Middle Eastern Technical Institute.

 

Nazan Kumlalı, Asst. Board Chair

Nazan started as a Sparks participant, and then as a facilitator. This is now her third year as a facilitator. Nazan is also an active member of the Kocaeli based non-profit KOSEV and is knowledgeable about non-profit compliance. She oversees DLD’s compliance with non-profit regulations. She holds a masters degree in chemical engineering from Marmara University.

 

Sema Başol

Sema is an executive with over 25 years of diverse work experience both in the U.S. and in Turkey. She has worked with multi-billion dollar corporations such as Mattel Inc. and Koc Holding (in Turkey), small businesses, and non-profit educational and cultural institutions. She is the co-founder of TWI and DLD. She holds an MBA degree from University of California, Los Angeles.

 

 

Dr. Nakiye Avdan Boyacıgiller

Nakiye recently completed her term as Dean of the Faculty of Management at Sabancı University in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in the US and educated in Turkey, France and the U.S., her research, teaching and leadership activities all reflect her interests in enhancing the effectiveness of multicultural work groups and cross border collaboration. She received her doctorate from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and her MBA degree from the University of California, LA.

 

Gizem Dağ

Gizem joined DLD last year as a facilitator and has now taken on the additional responsibility of overseeing the Sparks Program. She has several years of work experience in communications including with a training company. Gizem is a graduate of Ege University Communications Department and is currently working on her graduate degree.