Mr. Osman BIRSEN

Osman BIRSEN was born in Ankara, in 1945. He earned his undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Ankara in 1968. The same year, he started to work as Deputy Inspector at the Ministry of Finance. In 1971, he promoted to Inspector and later, Head Inspector and served at the Ministry of Finance until 1979. After completing his internship in United Kingdom, he was appointed as Deputy General Director of Banking and Foreign Exchange Department at the Undersecretariat of Treasury, Ministry of Finance. He also served as Chief Advisor to the Minister of Finance in 1980-1981. Between 1983 and 1986, he served as Financial Counselor to the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C., USA. He returned to Turkey in 1987 and was appointed as the General Director of Public Finance at the Undersecretariat of Treasury and Foreign Trade, where he worked until 1989. During this period, he also assumed the position of member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Electricity Authority (TEK). Between 1989 and 1993, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkish Delegation to the OECD in Paris. In October 1993, following his return to Turkey, he was appointed as Deputy Undersecretary to the Prime Ministry responsible of economic coordination. In April 1994, he was appointed as the Undersecretary of Treasury and Foreign Trade where he served until the splitting of the Undersecretariat into two divisions, namely, the Undersecretariat of Treasury and the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade. Between 1995 and October 1997, he worked in the private sector. Mr. BIRSEN was re-appointed to this post in November 2002. In addition to his post as the Chaiman & CEO of the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Mr. BIRSEN was also the Chairman of the ISE Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) and President of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS). Mr. BIRSEN’s term of office ended in November 2007.