Board of Directors Committee
Kutay Yalınkılınç
Founding Board Member
Kutay Yalınkılınç has over 20 years of experience in financial technologies, payment systems, and banking. He has held senior management positions at global companies such as BBVA and Vodafone, as well as leading electronic money and payment institutions in Türkiye. During his tenure at these institutions, he played a leading role in the implementation of numerous financial technology innovations in Türkiye. He also served as a founding board member of professional associations focused on financial technologies in Türkiye, including the Turkish Electronic Money and Payment Institutions Association. In 2022, he established the Fintech Innovation Hub to strengthen collaboration among fintech ecosystems in Turkey, Azerbaijan, other Turkic Republics, and Eastern Europe. As of September 2024, he became a founding partner of Pars VC, where he focused on investments in financial technology companies and support for global growth strategies.
Gülçin Ayetmizel Telatar
Founding Board Member
Throughout her 20-year career, Gülçin Aytemizel Telatar has led strategic leadership roles at leading Turkish institutions in the fields of technology, payment systems, retail banking, and financial technologies, leading to distinctive projects. After beginning her career at Hewlett Packard, she continued in credit card product management at BBVA Garanti Payment Systems. Following roles in various fields, including marketing, sales, and business development, she served as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at ING Türkiye for nine years, implementing pioneering business partnership projects in Türkiye's embedded finance and payment systems. In 2021, she stepped into the financial technologies field, joining Paycell, a leading company, as Deputy General Manager responsible for Personal Products and Growth. For the past year and a half, she has served as the founding General Manager of Star Payment and Electronic Money Inc., where she has worked on wallet-focused projects. With the goal of making finance more accessible and sustainable with next-generation technologies, she has developed payment systems, electronic money infrastructures, embedded finance solutions, and digital platforms centered around the user experience. Today, as a leader who grows established structures, guides with strategic vision, and combines technology with a focus on people, she continues to share her knowledge and experience, guiding the journey of the next generation of professionals. Beyond her professional career, she is an active writer for Fintechtime and a member of the Platin Yaka and Women in Technology Associations.
Zeynel Abidin Avcı
Founding Board Member
After graduating from Boğaziçi University's Department of Economics in 2006, Zeynel Abidin Avcı began his career in the private sector. Following a brief entrepreneurial stint, he transitioned to the public sector. Throughout his public career, he held inspector positions at institutions such as the Financial Inspection Board and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) General Directorate of Audit. He also completed his MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School on a scholarship from the CBRT. His thesis focused on blockchain technologies and central bank digital currencies. He most recently served as Deputy General Manager at the CBRT's General Directorate of Payment Systems and Financial Technologies. He played an active role in FAST layer services, the Digital Turkish Lira project, and international platforms such as the BIS, G20, OECD, and SWIFT. He also served as a Board Member at the Interbank Card Center. He left public service in November 2024 and joined the private sector as General Manager and Board Member at Fintlix Electronic Money and Payment Institution. As of August 2025, he has been providing consulting services to fintech and financial institutions in the areas of licensing, compliance, strategy, and technology through Finus Consulting, which he founded. [Name] holds CPA, CIA, and CFSA certifications and also completed a master's degree in Cyber Security at METU. He speaks advanced English, intermediate Arabic, and basic Russian.
Kerem Kalelioğlu
Founding Board Member
He began his career as a mobile phone and operator dealer at a young age. He served as a manager in the Sales, Marketing, and Product Management teams in the Payment Systems departments of Yapı Kredi Bank, Garanti Bank, and Akbank for 15 years. He gained retail advertising and marketing experience at Teknosa. He worked in the payment services, electronic money, and open banking business model within the scope of Law No. 6493, while serving as Assistant General Manager and General Manager at payment and electronic money institutions such as Paynet, VizyoPay, and TrPos. He currently serves as the General Manager Advisor at Pasifik Teknoloji, a Pacific Holding company. Kerem is married with one daughter.
Aziz Özben
Founding Board Member
Aziz Özben is a well-established financial sector executive with over 26 years of experience in banking, electronic money institutions, and digital payment ecosystems. Currently serving as General Manager of Junomoney, he has played a leading role in shaping Türkiye's digital financial infrastructure, focusing on regulatory compliance, product innovation, and strategic partnerships. Throughout his career at Türkiye İş Bankası and Junomoney, he has led areas such as retail banking transformation, international expansions, consumer loans, and API-based digital credit systems. Aziz has held direct responsibility for electronic money licensing, regulatory compliance, and fintech strategy, combining operational expertise with his experience to contribute to sustainable financial innovation.
Orçun İnce
Founding Board Member
Orçun İnce is an experienced professional who has worked at leading electronic money and payment services companies in Türkiye, including Payguru and Dgpays, and has shaped his career in the technology and fintech fields. Specializing in payment systems and digital finance solutions, İnce has held co-founding and executive roles at innovative startups such as PayPandas Technology Inc., taking active roles in areas such as product development, user experience, and strategic planning.
With his experience and knowledge in the field of technology provision in the Fintech ecosystem, he serves as a board member of the Financial Technology Association.
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Ali Başar Temiz
Founding Board Member
Attorney Ali Başar Temiz, Founder of Temiz Law Firm, is a graduate of Doğuş University Faculty of Law and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Public Law at Bahçeşehir University. Founded in 2018, Temiz provides legal consultancy and representation services to clients in the areas of Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Real Estate Law, Commercial Law, and Information Technology Law. Attorney Temiz holds numerous national and international certificates of achievement and has actively served as a founder and director of numerous non-governmental organizations. With his professional expertise and multidisciplinary approach, he aims to provide solution-oriented services to individual and corporate clients. Fluent in Russian, English, and German, Attorney Ali Başar Temiz is married with one child.
Sabrican Zaim
Founding Board Member
Sabrican Zaim has co-founded five different financial technology startups since 2012. A graduate of Management Information Systems, Zaim founded Paymes in 2017 and successfully exited the company by selling it to a Dubai-based payments company in 2022. He continued to serve as Chairman of the Board of Paymes and Managing Director of the related payments company until the end of 2023. During this period, he oversaw the company's expansion into markets such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Jordan. In 2023, Zaim co-founded Fintech Factory, an entrepreneurship and investment platform providing specialized support to fintech startups, and officially launched its investments in this area. As of September 2024, he also became a founding partner of Pars VC, an organization that provides investment and strategic support to financial technology companies aimed at their global growth goals.