Hafize Gaye Erkan

Hafize Gaye Erkan (born 1979, Istanbul) is the current governor of the Central Bank of Turkey. She is a former co-CEO and President of First Republic Bank and was a member of the company's board of directors. She is the former CEO of Greystone & Co Inc, a New York-based national real estate finance company that serves the seniors housing industry. She also was a board member at Tiffany & Co and a Director at Marsh & Mclennan Cos Inc.
Personal life
Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1979, Erkan grew up under the guidance of an engineer father and a mother who teaches mathematics and physics. During childhood, Erkan used to compose operas and sell them. After graduating from Istanbul High School, where the language of instruction is both Turkish and German, as the second highest-ranking student in the school, she enrolled at Boğaziçi University's (BOUN) Department of Industrial engineering in 1997, and graduated as valedictorian with a BSc in 2001. She earned a PhD in Operations research and Financial engineering from Princeton University, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program in Leadership.
She is married to Batur Biçer, her fellow classmate from when she was studying in Istanbul. After graduating from BOUN in 2001, Biçer went to the United States, and earned a PhD in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University. He worked as Vice President at Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He is currently serving as Managing Director at Napier Park Global Capital.
Career
Erkan started her work life serving as a research assistant and an assistant teacher while writing her thesis at Princeton University in the US. In 2005, she joined Goldman Sachs as an associate, and was named managing director and Head of Financial Institutions Group Analytics and Strategies in 2011.
She joined First Republic Bank in 2014 as its chief investment officer and co-chief risk officer, she was also appointed as the chief deposit officer in January 2016 before becoming the bank's president in May 2017. Erkan was elected to the board of directors on February 13, 2019. In July 2021, she became co-CEO of First Republic, alongside Jim Herbert, the founder of the bank. Herbert resigned due to health concerns in December 2021, a month later Erkan also resigned.
She joined the board of directors at Fortune 500 firm Marsh McLennan in March 2022, and also served on the board of directors for Tiffany & Co. from 2019 through the company's acquisition by LVMH in 2021.
On February 11, 2022, the Board of Directors of Marsh McLennan appointed Erkan as director effective on March 1, 2022. She was again re-elected for the role on May 23, 2023. On June 27, 2022, Greystone & Co Inc (an American-based national real estate finance company) appointed her as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Her executive responsibilities commenced in September 2022 and ended in December 2022.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Erkan as the new central bank governor on June 8, 2023, replacing Sahap Kavcioglu who served as Turkey's apex bank Governor since 20th March, 2021.
Central Bank of Turkey
After the re-election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May 2023 and the appointment of Mehmet Şimşek as the new Minister of Finance, the media reported that Central Bank governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu would be replaced by Erkan. On 8 June 2023, Erkan became the governor by a presidential decree by Erdoğan, becoming the first female head of the Turkish Central Bank.
Awards and recognition
Erkan was in 2001 honored by Boğaziçi University as the "Best Student in the Last Ten Years". She also received Princeton University's Gordon Y.S. Wu Fellowship for graduate study in engineering.
She received a grant from the National Science Foundation for her thesis and multiple Excellence in Teaching awards. In 2003, she
was selected as a Sigma Xi Honor Society member.
Erkan led First Republic bank's acquisition of Gradifi, a company that facilitates employer payment of student loans as an employee benefit. In 2018, she was named to San Francisco Business Times’ 40 Under 40 and Crain New York Business’ 40 Under 40 lists(age 38). and was named to the Crain's list of Notable Women in Banking and Finance in 2019.
According to San Francisco Business Times, as of 2018 she was the only woman under 40 holding a President or CEO title at America's 100 largest banks. She was an also named to American Banker's "Women to Watch" list.
She is the founder of the Hafize Gaye Erkan First Republic Fellowship Program, an initiative that supports STEM education, leadership, and career paths for promising young women who need support to achieve their goals.
References
1979 births
Living people
People from Istanbul
Istanbul High School alumni
Boğaziçi University alumni
Turkish industrial engineers
Princeton University alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
Turkish emigrants to the United States
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Turkish bankers
Turkish women in business
American women bankers
American women chief executives
American bank presidents
Governors of the Central Bank of Turkey