Güler Sabancı

Turkish businesswoman

Güler Sabancı (born 1955) is a Turkish businesswoman, a third generation female member of the Sabancı family, and the chairperson of the family controlled Sabancı Holding, the second largest industrial and financial conglomerate in Turkey. As of 2020, she is listed as the 76th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, which first recognized her in 1999.

Güler was born the daughter and first child of İhsan Sabancı and his wife Yüksel in 1955 in Adana, Turkey. After finishing high school at TED Ankara College in Ankara, she was educated in business administration at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. In 1978, she started her professional career at LasSA, a family owned tire production company in Kocaeli Province. She was then appointed general manager of KordSA, a position she held for 14 years. Later, Güler Sabancı became a member of the board of directors at Sabancı Holding, heading the tires and reinforcement materials group, as well as having responsibility for human resources.

Güler Sabancı is the chairwoman and managing director of Sabancı Holding, one of the leading and most reputable business groups in Turkey. She started her career at the tire manufacturing company of the group and held various roles at the other group companies. Ms. Sabancı is the Founding President of the Sabancı University and also acts as chairman of the Sakip Sabancı Museum and chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, the leading private foundation in Turkey. She is the first and only female member of European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). In October 2013, she was named 2nd on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business (outside USA). She has received several awards for philanthropy and leadership including the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, the Clinton Global Citizen Award, a Raymond Georis Innovative Philanthropist Award and a European School of Management Responsible Leadership Award. In 2012, Sabancı was appointed a member of the board of United Nations Global Compact, the UN's highest level advisory body involving business, civil society, labour and employers organizations. As of 2020, she is listed as the 76th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.