Yeliz Erinçkan

I previously served as Chair of the Board at Sabancı ARF (Almost Ready to Fly), Sabancı Holding’s early-stage accelerator and seed investment company, where I worked closely with Sabancı shareholders, corporate stakeholders, founders and investment committees; navigating governance, scale, and strategic complexity.

In addition, I was entrusted by Sabancı* shareholders to lead a Business Excellence program that required operating at the intersection of governance, leadership, and execution—a role closely aligned with Chair-level responsibilities. I designed and led a group-wide diagnostic covering governance, strategy, and communication, complemented by stakeholder mapping and a prioritized needs framework. The process was executed through a leadership coalition of CEOs from multiple subsidiaries, where my role extended beyond facilitation to orchestration, alignment, and decision framing at Board level. Findings and recommendations were formally presented to the full Board, highlighting both structural strengths and areas requiring development. Importantly, I continued beyond the Board review to support execution and follow-through, working with management teams to translate strategic intent into action—reflecting the shift from independent oversight to active, accountable Chair-style leadership.

Sabancı Holding is a publicly listed, multi-sector conglomerate on Borsa Istanbul, with more than 65,000 employees and multi-billion-dollar annual revenues. It operates a diversified portfolio of market-leading companies, recognised for institutional governance and long-term value creation.
I am currently actively involved as an Advisory Board member to three early-stage ventures, supporting them on governance, growth strategy, and investor readiness as they scale.