NEWS

Yıldız Holding’s global snacking company, pladis, has today announced an important appointment to its senior leadership team. Mete Buyurgan, Managing Director of pladis TREECA (Türkiye Eastern Europe, and Central Asia) Region and CEO of Ülker, will be appointed to a strategic international position within the wider pladis organization, reporting directly to global CEO, Salman Amin.

His new appointment will commence from the second quarter of 2025. Buyurgan will continue in his role as CEO Ülker until that time.

Özgür Kölükfakı will join pladis on 9 September 2024 and will serve as the incoming Managing Director responsible for Türkiye and Central Asia.  He will assume the role of Managing Director Türkiye and Central Asia, and Ülker CEO, from the second quarter of 2025. Kölükfakı will be a member of the pladis Executive Committee and the Ülker Board of Directors. During this period Özgür Kölükfakı will report directly to global CEO, Salman Amin.

Ülker CEO Mete Buyurgan will work closely with Özgür Kölükfakı until the second quarter of 2025 as part of the onboarding process.

Note to the Editor:

About Özgür Kölükfakı:

After graduating from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University, Kölükfakı completed his master’s degree in the Business Administration Department. He joined Unilever as a Brand Manager in 1998 and held various senior management roles across different geographies and categories for nearly 25 years.

From 2012 to 2015, Kölükfakı served as the Vice President responsible for Ice Cream, Food, and Beverages at Unilever Russia. Between 2015 and 2019, he was the General Manager responsible for Iran and Central Asia, and from 2019 to 2022, he held the position of Vice President responsible for the Ice Cream, Beverage, and Food Department in the North Africa, Middle East, Turkiye Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus Region.

Before joining pladis, Kölükfakı served as the General Manager responsible for Turkey operations at Hayat Kimya since 2023.