Cenk Sidar is the founder and managing director of Sidar Global Advisors (SGA), a Washington, DC-based global macro research and strategic advisory firm that has been assisting top financial institutions and multinational corporations investing in emerging markets since 2009. Sidar successfully developed the firm`s client base, building a broad range of experience assisting Fortune 100 companies, hedge funds, and private equities in their overseas operations and investments. Prior to starting SGA, he served as the director of the American-Turkish Council for four years and oversaw the defense and energy programs of the Council.He worked as a liaison for various business and national security issues among companies and the US and Turkish governments. Before moving to the United States, Sidar founded a political organization in 2003, the SU Hareketi/Politicial Vision Movement, which under his leadership became one of the largest and most active independent, youth-focused social democrat movements in Turkey. Sidar holds an MA degree in international economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, a postgraduate degree in European studies from SAIS’s Bologna Center in Italy, and a BA degree in business administration and international relations from the Istanbul Bilgi University. His academic awards include the Bank of Austria Scholarship, the Jean Monnet Scholarship, and the Johns Hopkins Scholarship. He is a member of Atlantik-Brucke e. V., the European Young Leaders Program, the Jean Monnet Program, the Project Interchange Alumni, and the American Academy of Achievement. He is fluent in English and German.