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.