I am an award-winning journalist and researcher who has been an executive at one of the largest media groups in Europe for more than 10 years during which I led digital strategy, user engagement and organization design.

I've been selected by Harvard University for Knight Visiting Nieman Fellowship in 2019 and I was awarded as the Digital Journalist of the Year in 2018 by Turkish Journalists' Association, which is the oldest of its kind in Turkey. One of my works on video was highlighted in 2017 as "Best Practice" by the U.S.-based International News Media Association (INMA).

I was quoted or interviewed by international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, BBC, Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, Corriere della Sera, Le Figaro and Süddeutsche Zeitung. I am doing this name-dropping here mostly because my wife and daughter think it's cool to be quoted by these outlets.

As a journalist, I interviewed presidents, prime ministers and business leaders. I reported from across the world, including the war-torn towns of Syria and the unicorn fields of Silicon Valley. I travelled to many other places from Berlin to New York to study the latest practices in New Media. I am still not convinced that anywhere else can be as interesting as Istanbul.

As a media executive, I led not only award-winning journalism projects in Turkey but also large-scale corporate undertakings in multidisciplinary areas as digital transformation, content strategy and data analytics, managing 200+ people at one point, sometimes with international partners.

My main focuses of interest include measuring value of user and content, building public trust, audience development and change management.

I believe that my strongest skills are creativity, adaptability and collaboration.

I am a volunteer for the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, journalists and media executives who share a common dedication to quality, independent journalism. I also support the Ankara-based Foundation for Children with Leukemia (LÖSEV).

As long as my children let me during my free time, I like writing short stories, reading Ottoman poetry, watching Russian cinema, listening to Tom Waits and playing Europa Universalis. Not simultaneously, if possible.

Before a career spanning more than 15 years, I was born in 1982, the year that some think as the end of the wonderful Generation X and the beginning of the pesky Millennials.

I believe in the future.