Dr. Eken was born to Mahmut and Latife Eken in Silopi, located in the Southeast of Turkey, in 1965. He received his BA in economics from Anadolu University, M.Phil. in finance from the University of Exeter in 1992 and his Ph.D. in banking from Marmara University in 1999. Having started his career as a banker, Dr. Eken worked for several banks in Turkey during the period 1992-2003. Before joining academia and terminating his professional banking career he also served as the board member of several banks in Turkey and Romania. He is the author and co-author of several finance and banking related academic books and articles written in Turkish and English and he is also the author of two novels and a story book. Specialized in the area of asset/liability management in commercial banks, he teaches portfolio theory, bank management and other banking and finance related courses. Holding various positions at different universities and teaching in the field of financial economics Dr. Eken got retired in September 2020. Professor Eken was elected as the chairman of Türkiye Ekonomik ve Mali Araştırmalar Vakfı in June 2019. 

Yener Altunbaş is a Professor in Banking at Bangor Business School. He holds a BSc (Economics) degree from the University of Hacettepe, Ankara and a PhD from the Unversity of Wales, Bangor. He worked first as an analyst with Ziraat and then as an economist in Etibank Banking Inc. in Turkey and as a Research Officer within the Institute of European Finance in the UK. Yener Altunbaş was employed as a Research Fellow with the Business School at South Bank University, London and as a Research Associate at the Centre of Business Research in Cambridge University. He also held a Visiting Researcher post at the European Central Bank (ECB), Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and a guest lectureship at the University of Yildirim Bayazit, Anakara, Turkey. Professor Altunbaş is currently a consultant for ECB, BIS and he is collaborating on research projects with other colleagues at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Central Bank of Turkey. Author of many articles on the structure and efficiency of banking markets, his main fields of research interest include: the study of European banks, efficiency, stock market analysis, corporate governance, electoral studies, regional economics and climate change. Recent research has also been concerned with marine biology.

Dr. Shahrokh Saudagaran is a Professor of Accounting and Milgard Professor at the Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility at the University of Washington Tacoma. His work on the impact of accounting diversity on global capital markets, financial reporting in emerging markets, and sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues has been published in top international business, accounting and finance journals including the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Banking and Finance, Accounting Horizons, Journal of International Accounting Research, European Accounting Research, Journal of International Accounting, and European Journal of Finance. He has served on the editorial boards of the Accounting Review, Accounting Horizons, Issues in Accounting Education and numerous other journals globally. He is co-author of International Accounting: A User Perspective currently in its fifth edition. He earned his PhD at the University of Washington (Seattle). He served as Dean and was the Milgard Endowed Dean at the University of Washington Tacoma. His previous academic positions were as the Arthur Andersen Professor and Head of the School of Accounting at Oklahoma State University and as the McCullough Professor Accounting at Santa Clara University.

Dr. Hüseyin Selimler holds a Ph.D. in Banking (Marmara University, 2006) and a Master’s in
Public Finance (Istanbul University, 1996). With 25+ years in banking, he served in leadership
roles at Ziraat Bank, including Inspector, Chief Inspector, and Branch Manager. An award-
winning scholar (3rd place in Türkiye’s 1997 Banking Competition), he transitioned to
academia in 2016 as a Finance Professor and Vice Dean at Istanbul Aydın University. Promoted
to Associate Professor in 2017 and Full Professor in 2022, he has published extensively on
banking reforms, asset management, and financial regulation.

Prof. Dr. Zeynep Dina Çakmur Yıldırtan is an academic at Marmara University and holds a Ph.D. in Banking and Insurance. She specializes in financial econometrics, capital markets, and financial crises. She is highly proficient in English and has published numerous academic articles, books, and conference papers.

As of 2024, she is on a sabbatical research leave at Kingston University Business School (UK). Previously, she has held representative roles at international institutions such as the University of Málaga and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Her academic consultancy includes TÜBİTAK and various financial research projects. She also serves as an editor for academic journals.

Her teaching expertise covers econometrics, financial management, research methods, and insurance principles. She has participated in numerous international conferences and served as a referee for scientific journals.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. - Dumlupınar University Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Public Finance, 2015

Master's Degree - Dumlupınar University Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Accounting-Finance, 2011

Undergraduate - Dumlupınar University, Department of Public Finance, 2005

ACADEMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE

2025 - Continues : Prof.  Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Public Finance

2020 - 2025: Assoc. Prof. Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Public Finance

2019 - 2020: Asst. Professor. Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Public Finance

2016 - 2019: Asst. Professor, Kırklareli University School of Applied Sciences, Department of Banking and Finance

2012 - 2016: Lecturer Kırklareli University School of Applied Sciences, Department of Banking and Finance

Dr. Nashwa Joy Saleh is a strategic thought leader, senior policy advisor, Chartered Director, educator and published author, internationally recognized by the prestigious Innovate Finance UK Women in Fintech Powerlist 2022 & 2023 in the UK as an industry leader and in the EMEA region, she is recognized as a top 100 influential financial industry experts (men & women).

She has more than 30 years of experience across global EM with a special focus on EMEA, holding various senior policy, equity, debt and capital markets roles with a number of international organizations and regulatory bodies. Her track record spanned mandates with USAID, EBRD, AfDB, Central Bank of Egypt, S&P Global and KPMG Corporate Finance. She is the founder of BAST Analytics UK Ltd (www.bastanalytics.com) aspiring to become the first premium provider of MSME data analytics in EMEA.
She has managed teams of multidisciplinary professionals and covered financial markets & institutions across a number of Global EM and frontier markets including: Sub-Saharan African markets, North African markets, Brazil, Greece, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Togo, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa.

As an educator, Dr. Saleh is an Associate Professor of Fintech at Kingston Business School in London, Director of MSc Fintech and has held several senior affiliations previously with IE Madrid, Cranfield University, ESCP Europe, De Montfort University, Cambridge University & The American University in Cairo.

She is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, FHEA, Chevening Scholar, receiving her PhD in Finance from Bayes Business School in London, MSc in Finance from London Business School, and obtained her BA in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo (AUC). She is a CFA charter holder, member of the UK CFA Society and Chartered Management Accountant (CMA) by the US Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). She also holds a CFA certification in ESG Investing and is a Chartered Director from the UK Institute of Directors (IoD).

Some of her recent board roles include Independent Non-Executive Director & Chair Risk Committee, UBA UK Limited, regulated by the Bank of England’s PRA & the FCA. UBA Group is a Pan-African systemic financial institution with presence in 22 African markets, the US, the UAE and France. Non-executive director & board member, Chair of Audit Committee at Sandah Microfinance (founded by KfW & AAIB) and INED at EBE Factors (subsidiary of the Egyptian Export Development Bank of Egypt).

She published a book in 2010 entitled An Anatomy of the Financial Crisis, Blowing Tumbleweed. She speaks French, English, Arabic and Turkish.

Dr Can Eken is a tenured assistant professor at Durham Law School, Durham University. He is also the co-director of the Durham International Dispute Resolution Institute (DIDRI) and a fellow of the Advance HE (FHEA) in the United Kingdom (UK). His research and teaching centre on international dispute resolution, with a particular focus on international commercial arbitration. His research interests also include online dispute resolution, investment arbitration, third-party funding, and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as negotiation and mediation.

Dr Eken is a triple-qualified lawyer and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). He is qualified as an attorney in California and Türkiye, and as a solicitor in England and Wales. He is on the panel of arbitrators at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Dubai International Arbitration Centre, Asian International Arbitration Centre, and several other international arbitration centres. Listed by LexisNexis as an arbitration expert, he has served as a counsel and consultant in major international commercial arbitration cases.

Dr Eken is active in student affairs and professional service. He coaches the Durham Law School Vis Moot Team for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna and Hong Kong and also serves as an arbitrator at the same competitions. In terms of committee roles, he is an executive committee member of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), a committee member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Thames Valley Branch as well as a member of the Executive Secretariat of the Asia Pacific FDI Network. He is a member of the Protem Committee for the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) Court of Arbitration in Malaysia. He also serves as a peer reviewer for the Asian Pacific Law Review, the McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution, the Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, and other leading academic journals.

Prof. Dr. Zeynep Dina Çakmur Yıldırtan is an academic at Marmara University and holds a Ph.D. in Banking and Insurance. She specializes in financial econometrics, capital markets, and financial crises. She is highly proficient in English and has published numerous academic articles, books, and conference papers.

As of 2024, she is on a sabbatical research leave at Kingston University Business School (UK). Previously, she has held representative roles at international institutions such as the University of Málaga and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Her academic consultancy includes TÜBİTAK and various financial research projects. She also serves as an editor for academic journals.

Her teaching expertise covers econometrics, financial management, research methods, and insurance principles. She has participated in numerous international conferences and served as a referee for scientific journals.