Saniye Gülser Corat

Saniye Gülser Corat is a Senior international development executive at UNESCO since 2004, founder and CEO of an international development consulting company and recognised academic. Thought leader in sustainable and transformative change with a focus on gender equality. Fluent in cultural differences and diversity, having lived in Turkey, Belgium, Canada and France while managing projects in over 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Expertise in strategic thinking, governance, public-private partnerships and government relations. Passionate about addressing gender bias in frontier technologies, particularly AI; responsible investment with impact; and exploring innovative, sustainable solutions to socio-economic issues in the developing world. Broad experience of advisory work and oversight in the public sector and on nonprofit boards; now looking to share her knowledge and experience in non-executive corporate board service. 
S. Gülser Corat has served as UNESCO’s Director for Gender Equality since September 2004. She brought about fundamental cultural change in this UN agency with over 2000 staff in Headquarters and 54 offices around the globe and a $600 million budget. She negotiated and secured unanimous vote by 195 Member States to designate gender equality a global priority for the organization in 2007 and championed diversity at senior levels - the organization reached gender parity in 2017 from a starting point of 9% in 2004. She launched special campaigns and programmes for girls’ education in STEM, digital skills, safety of women journalists, women in science, women and sports. She initiated and managed research, shedding light on emerging issues such as gender bias in voice assistants powered by AI that culminated in the publication of the report I’d Blush if I Could in March 2019. This report sparked a global conversation with the technology sector through her keynote address at the largest global meeting of the technology sector, the Web Summit, in 2019 and interviews with more than 600 media outlets around the globe - including the BBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, NYT, The Guardian, Forbes, Time. 
Prior to joining UNESCO, Gülser founded and managed a global development consulting company based in Canada, managing up to USD 50 million investments in developing economies and a global portfolio of clients in over 30 countries with teams of over 150 staff. As the CEO of the company, she provided thought leadership on development issues with different stakeholders while championing the needs of the target groups and building long-term relationships based on mutual understanding and trust. In parallel, she led research and taught at graduate level in Belgium and Canada. 
Gülser is a TED and international keynote speaker. She serves on the boards of Women’s Leadership Academy (China), International Advisory Committee for Diversity Promotion, Kobe University (Japan), UPenn Law School Global Women’s Leadership Project (USA), and Exponent, a global gender equality incubator. 
== Education ==
She holds graduate degrees from Carleton University, Canada and College of Europe, Belgium and Executive Education certificates from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.
== References ==
== External Links ==
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*Saniye Gülser Corat on Crunchbase
Category:UNESCO people
Category:Company founders
Category:Chief executive officers
Category:American chief executives
Category:American company founders
Category:UNESCO Directors-General