Osman Cevdet Akçay (Economist, ex-Academic) served as the Chief Economist at Koç Financial Services and Yapi Kredi until May 2018. He completed his secondary and high school education at Istanbul American Robert College High School. He received his B.A. in economics from Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, and his M.Phil and Ph.D degrees from Graduate School and University Center at City  University of New York. He served at Boğaziçi University as Assistant Professor and as Associate Professor between 1992 and 2001, and afterwards as a full-time faculty member at Koç University from 2001 till September 2009 under “Senior Lecturer” status while simultaneously serving as Chief Economist first under Koçbank, and then under Yapı Kredi Bank. He started as an economist at Koç Yatırım (Investment Bank) in 1998 and became the Chief Economist for Koçbank and Koç Yatırım in 2000. Following the Koçbank-Yapi Kredi merger in 2006, he served as the Chief Economist at Yapi Kredi as well as the umbrella company Koç Financial Services until his departure in May 2018. His research and publication areas mainly include exchange rate determination, debt dynamics, and disinflation with specific emphasis on the Turkish experience in these fields. He currently functions as a freelance economist providing consultancy mostly for foreign banks and their clients regarding their  Turkey portfolios, as well as for certain state institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

Fernando is the Presedent of EUROMETAL, a position he has held since December 2018, and is the Managing Director of Layde Steel (Tata Steel Europe) since January 2009. As a senior executive leading transformation through growth, customer oriented actions and full involvement of the organisation, Fernando has more than 20 years of experience in highly demanding commercial organisations, of which 10 years acting as Managing Director promoting the change and market focus to take back to profits a complex entity. Involvement includes all stakeholders, and all levels of the company, including management of the multinational.

Gaku is the general manager of sales department for Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd., the biggest Japanese electric-arc-furnace steel producer which makes both flats and beams. Tokyosteel has the top market share of H beams and the first company to produce hot rolled coils from scrap in Japan. Tokyosteel’s pricing of steel scrap is regarded as a market indicator in the world. Gaku is responsible for export sales at Tokyo headquarters. He has abundant experience especially in HRC trade with various areas such as North America, Europe, China and other Asian countries. Gaku is also in charge of sales development of flat products to promote of environmental-friendly green steel among Japanese steel consumers like global manufacturers. EAF steel is the first choice for steel users towards Carbon Neutrality. The company has the technology to recycle obsolete-scraps to high quality steel sheets, Tokyosteel has a clear vision to expand the capacity. 

With more than 30 years of experience in the Steel industry. He was the president of Hadeed & VP of Metal SBU SABIC, then Middle East VP of ArcelorMittal, and then CEO of SULB in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. His last job was as the CEO of JESCO. Mohammed was the Chairman of Arab Iron & Steel Union. He was a Board member of Alba & Garmco in Bahrain. Currently, he is an advisor for several industrial companies and organizations and is Vice Chairman of the National Committee for Steel Industry (NCSI) which is embedded in the Federation of Saudi Chambers, also is an NCSI representative for World Steel Association. Mohammed is professional & strong in business excellence and strategy, he studied at the University of Colorado, Boulder to enhance his English language, he graduated as an economist from Riyadh university KSA and had executives short courses with Ashridge Management College in England and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

After graduating from Oxford University in 1977, with a degree in Mathematics, Dick has spent the last 42 years permanently employed in the steel trade. Over half of those years with current employer Stemcor. Dick’s experience ranges from his earlier years importing flat rolled steel and long products into the UK market, through a period trading long products across the globe, then a decade trading raw materials for steel making, and for the last five years looking after much of Stemcor’s European import and distribution business. Three times Chairman of the International Steel Trade Association, Dick has a wealth of experience, both sourcing and marketing steel products and steel making raw materials, across the globe.

Andrea graduated as a Mechanical Engineering Technician and has more than 20 years of experience in the Metal Industry, with particular reference to the Rolling Mill field, starting his career in the engineering department. He then moved to the project office, with extensive experience in site activities such as erection & commissioning, also in charge of project implementation as site manager. He has gained wide experience in purchasing and procurement of plants and technologies, worldwide. In 2007, he joined Danieli & C., working in the proposal department of the Danieli Morgardshammar Bar & Wire Rod mill division, becoming head of the department, and was appointed as Vice President Sales. In 2013 he moved to Key Account Management, in charge of Marketing Strategies & Business Development in the Turkish and MENA Regions for all product divisions of Danieli Group. Then in August 2017 he was promoted to Technical & Sales Director in charge of Marketing Strategies & Business Development for Turkey, Africa, Middle East and India for all product divisions of Danieli Group. He is also Director and Board Member of Danieli India Ltd and Danieli Middle East.

Emrah is the Purchasing Director of Metal Raw Material business in Arcelik A.S. 2nd largest white goods manufacturer in Europe. He was born in Istanbul in 1980 and  graduated from Bosphorus University Mechanical Engineering in 2003. In 2019 he joined Executive MBA program at Bosphorus University, specialized in Finance. He has a over 18 years experience in Arcelik Purchasing department with various roles

Alessandro (born 1970) holds the position of Director of Economic and Market Analysis at the European Steel Association (EUROFER) based in Brussels, where he carries out economic research and analysis linked to the steel sector. Prior to joining EUROFER, he held for over ten years equivalent positions at other Brussels-based European trade associations (namely in the mortgage lending sector and the cement sector) and, before that, he worked for the Economic Studies Office of a leading cement and construction group in Rome, Italy, and for the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in Economics (1999) and a Degree in political science (1995) from the University of Pisa, Italy. He has dual nationality (Italian and Belgian) and is fluent in English, French and Italian.

Experienced Automotive Industry with a background of all purchasing activities such as raw material, direct material, indirect material, investments and tools more than 15+ years in Turkey and Romania region. Graduated from Kocaeli University as Mechanical Engineer and after finishing the MBA program in Bahçeşehir University. In parallel working as a corporate coach in Beyçelik Holding.  

Amit is heading the export sales function at AM/NS India. AM/NS India is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel. Amit joined the organization as a management trainee in 2008 and has grown within the organization to reach a leadership position. He has been instrumental in getting AM/NS India brand recognised worldwide. He has been credited with developing key export markets for highly demanding customer segments like automotive, renewable energy, construction and mining. Furthermore, Amit has been instrumental in getting international accreditation for the organisation’s products for Oil and Gas and ship building segments. Amit has expanded organisation’s reach in highly niche and diverse geographies. He is admired in the industry for his in-depth knowledge of the market, outstanding customer relationship and proficiency of building long terms partnership models with the clients. Amit is well-travelled, tech-savvy, a social media influencer and an avid supporter of digitalization. Amit has been a regular speaker at international steel conferences and management institutes. He has been providing his valued inputs to Indian Govt and Indian steel association in important matters of international trade agreements and trade barriers.     

Abu Bucker is the CEO and also a member of the Board of Directors of AGIS. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Commerce & Accounting from Mumbai's Sydenham College in 1994 and his Membership in The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS) in London, UK in 1996. In 1997 Abu Bucker joined the MBA program at Boston University's Graduate School of Management in USA, specializing in International Corporate Finance. After graduating from Boston University, Abu Bucker took up his first position with American International Group Inc. as a Management Associate (MA) at the Company's Regional Controllers Office at Wall Street, New York, USA in 1999. Between Jun 2000 and Jan 2006 he graduated from the MA program and was promoted as Assistant Vice President, wherein he was responsible for managing Financial and Accounting aspects of a $400 Million Dollar Division. In early 2006, Abu Bucker was certified by The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institution (AAOIFI), Bahrain as an Islamic Professional Accountant and was asked by the Group to take charge as Chief Financial Officer of AIG Takaful, a new $100 million strategic initiative of Islamic Insurance concept grounded in Islamic Principles of Banking transaction and observes the rules and regulations as specified by Sharia (Islamic law). After acquiring invaluable expertise by working for global corporate majors, in April 2007 Abu Bucker joined Al Ghurair Iron  Steel L.L.C, a $100 Million Steel Cold Rolling and Galvanizing Complex the first of its kind in U.A.E.

Güvenç was born in Ankara in 1975, and graduated from TED Ankara College and then from Middle East Technical University Metallurgy and Material Engineering Faculty. Having a Post-graduate Degree in the same discipline, Güvenç has been working across different units of Borçelik since 2002, and since 2015, he is serving as an Executive Board Member in charge of Sales, Marketing, Customer Technical Relations and Innovation units.

Gorkem received his master's degree in Management of Business Administration in 2002 from La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA. He started his career in the US, working in multinational companies such as Saint Gobain. Later, he went on to work in the stock market fortune 500 company SEI Investments as a mutual fund trader in the US. In 2005, he took a challenge in the steel industry and started to work for steel producers as an executive for export markets. Then, he was appointed as a director of the steel desk of LN metals, a commodity trading company in London. In 2012, Gorkem founded Galex Steel International -- a trading house mainly focused on flat steel products and exports to Europe, Turkey, South America, Middle East and Far East. Galex represents reputable government and private mills from China, India and Turkey on regional or project basis. The company covers global markets through its offices in Turkey, China, India and Russia.

After graduating from University of Genoa Italy, Mario achieved a Master of Science at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He started his career in Duferco in 2002 and after an experience in Carbofer, he co-founded DP Trade SA in 2009. Open-minded and flexible, he is able to adapt the company policy and strategy to the fast-changing circumstances. Married and with three children, he practices triathlon and skiing.

Huseyin, General Manager for the Middle East region for Hangzhou CIEC, has 22 years of experience in foreign steel trade. Having worked as foreign trade manager at various Turkish mills, Huseyin is now responsible for business development at Hangzhou CIEC International Co. for the Middle East region.  

Gunther graduated from RWTH Achen University in engineering and business administration. After his academic period as assistant professor at RWTH Aachen University, he joined Mannesmann Group for about 16 Years in various board positions for the metallurgical industry; as President of Innse Innocenti, CEO of Demag Italimpianti, CEO of Mannesmann Demag Meer, and CEO of Mannesmann Demag Sack. Gunther then served for about 8 Years as CEO and President for the Otto Junker Group, operating a stainless steel foundry and supplier of furnaces to the metallurgical industry. He served as CEO for Schoeller Werk, a stainless steel tube producer. In parallel, for 13 years, he has been shareholder and CEO of VOSCO, a consulting firm, specialised in the metallurgical industry. For 30 years he has been serving the International Tube Association as Chairman and President, and for 25 years, he has been serving several companies as chairman or member of supervisory boards.

Born in 1976 in Istanbul, Murat graduated from Saint Benoit French High School and received his undergraduate degree in business administration from Istanbul University. After starting his business life as Regional Sales Representative at Johnson&Johnson Medical Türkiye in 1998, he started his career in steel sector in Steelcom Türkiye as Area Sales Supervisor in 2006. Cananoğlu then joined Çolakoglu Metalurji in 2012, where he had taken different responsibilities on long product and flat product sales. Now he is working as Sales Manager for Flat Products in Commercial Segment since 2018. Murat is married and has two children.  

After graduating from Istanbul University in 2009, with a degree in Metallurgy and Material Engineering, Ozan received his master’s degree from the University of Wales in Business Administration. He started his career in Borçelik in 2011 and since then, Ozan has been working in the sales department and is responsible for domestic sales. Borçelik is a joint venture of ArcelorMittal and Borusan Holding.

After training as a journalist in Italy, Emanuele started covering the steel market back in 2010 when he joined SBB in London. In 2014, he became managing editor for the EMEA steel market for Platts. Emanuele joined Kallanish in 2016 and he is the editor for Kallanish Steel Weekly. He speaks five languages and love art as much as steel.

Having graduated from university in England's steel city of Sheffield, Adam was destined to end up in a career related to the steel industry. He has worked at Kallanish since 2014 as an editor for The Middle East and Turkey, as well as CIS and Eastern Europe, contributing his experience gained from five years in Dubai of the vibrant and fast-growing Middle Eastern and Turkish markets. Adam regularly attends events in the Middle East and Europe, moderating and speaking at some of them. He was previously steel editor at Platts in Dubai and before that Central and Eastern European reporter for Steel Business Briefing in London. Adam prides himself on providing friendly, informative and accurate journalism. He is currently based in Frankfurt and speaks fluent Polish and intermediate German. 

Burcak brings 15 years experience in covering global long products and scrap pricing. She is responsible for the Kallanish daily scrap assessment in Turkey, as well as European shredded and US domestic and export pricing. Prior to joining Kallanish she worked for SteelOrbis as Director of Research. She is based in Istanbul.