Mr. M. Turgut Yılmaz is the founder and controlling shareholder of GSD Holding, acompany established in 1986 and listed in 1999.  He serves as the Chairman and Managing Director of GSD Holding since its inception. Under his leadership the Group was set up as the first sectoral foreign trade services company in Turkey and rapidly grew to a diversified holding company operating in banking, factoring, leasing, energy and shipping sectors.

Mr. Yılmaz sought to steer the Group into new ventures by successfully divesting its subsidiary, Tekstilbank to the world’s largest banking group, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2015.   

Mr. Yılmaz began his business career as a young entrepreneur after completing his education in Istanbul High School in german language and the Faculty of Law in Istanbul University. Since early 70s he was engaged in manufacturing of leather, knitted or woven apparels and soon became one of the first large scale Turkish exporters to Europe. Later on he developed his own transportation and logistics business aiming at vertical integration in his growing export operations. Over the years he made substantial investments in several other sectors including banking, financial services, hotel management, real estateand shipping. Currently, along with his positions in the board of GSD Holding and its subsidiaries, Mr. Yılmaz is also the Chairman of MTY Delta Denizcilik, his family owned company holding various real estate and equity investment assets.  

He also took an active role in social life and politics and served as the Chairman of Apparel Manufacturers Association of Turkey, Chairman of Rize Sports Club, Director of Turkish Football Association and Director of Motherland Party.

He is interested in modern and classical arts and also a registered collectioner of Seldjuki antiquities. He is a dedicated philanthropist who has constructed school buildings countrywide and donated to the Ministry of Education of Turkey. 

Married with 3 children, M. Turgut Yılmaz is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of GSD Education Foundation and a member of Turkish Industry and Business Association.

Mr. Akgün Türer serves as the Chief Executive Officer of GSD Holding since 1999 and was also appointed Vice Chairman of the Board in 2015. Prior to joining the GSD Group as a Board Member in 1996 he took leading roles in investment banking, asset management and private equity investment fields. Mr. Türer has over 25 years of extensive management experience mainly covering commercial banking, financial services and shipping sectors. 

In his capacity as the CEO of GSD Holding he actively guided the implementation of major strategic actions changing the group’s business scope.  In recent years GSD Holding successfully managed to divest its equity stake in commercial banking by selling Tekstilbank to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank globally.  Before, Mr. Türer served as Chairman of Tekstilbank between 2006 and 2015. He also led the restructuring process while the Group concurrently exited from its other core businesses of export services and financial leasing and stepped into dry bulk shipping sectorto diversify its operations internationally.

Presently, Mr. Türer serves as Chairman at GSD Bank and Vice Chairman at GSD Marin and GSD Factoring. He is a Member of American Bureau of Shipping, a worldwide classification society based in Houston, TX.  He is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of GSD Education Foundation.

Mr. Türer graduated from Boğaziçi University with a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and also holds an MBA degreefrom Manchester Business School in the UK. He also taught venture capital courses in the Executive MBA programme of Istanbul’s Bilgi University between 1999 and 2001.

After graduatingfrom Saint Joseph French High School in 1981, he took bachelor's degree fromMarmara University Faculty of Economics and then he started his career in 1989at Türk Ekonomi Bankası A.Ş.

Between 1990 and1996, he served as Assistant General Manager at İktisat Finansal Kiralama A.Ş.In 1996, he joined the GSD Group in Tekstil Finansal Kiralama A.Ş. both asbeing a General Manager and Board Member. Within the body of the GSD group, hewas the Assistant General Manager at GSD Yatırım Bankası A.Ş. between2002-2004, the General Manager at Tekstil Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş.and he servedas a Board Member of the following group companies between 2004-2007, between2009-2011 the Textile Factoring A.Ş. and GSD Dış Ticaret A.Ş. between2010-2012, Tekstil Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş. between 2007-2015, GSDAdvertising and Public Relations Services between 2007-2017 A.Ş., at GSD PlanProje Etüd A.Ş. and GSD Gayrimenkul Yatırım ve Geliştirme A.Ş. between2008-2017.

Since 2007, Hecarries out his duties as a Board member and General Manager at GSD DenizcilikGayrimenkul İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and Board Member at Dodo MaritimeLimited, Cano Maritime Limited, Hako Maritime Limited, Zeyno Maritime Limited,Neco Maritime Limited and Mila Maritime Limited.

He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Finance and Economics in 1976.

He began his career in 1977 as an account specialist at the Ministry of Finance and later served as the assistant to the provincial treasurer between 1987-1989, Assistant General Manager at GSD Dış Ticaret A.Ş between 1989-1991 and auditor in GSD Group companies between 2001-2013. Since 1991, he has been working as the certified public accountant in the firms he has shares.

He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Finance and Economics in 1964.

He began his career in 1964 as an assistant accountant at the Ministry of Finance. After earning his credentials in 1967, he was appointed as an Account Specialist. During his tenure as an Account Specialist, he conducted studies on capital markets and mutual funds in England for a year.

Afterwards, he served as the Vice President of the Istanbul Group of Tax Inspectors and Vice Chairman of the Board of Tax Inspectors. In 1975-1981, he worked as Finance Manager in Altınyıldız Group and later on as a prelector at Boğaziçi University from 1981 to 1982 and moved on to Kiğılı Group as Vice Chairman and Manager. He earned the certified public accountant title after the related law came into effect and serves as the certified public accountant in the companies he partnered.

Mr. Yılmaz  graduated from Sankt George Austria Lycee in 2010, and then he holds a BScdegree in Shipbuilding and Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2015and he began his career in GSD Marin. He also holds a master degree from Universityof London City from Bayes Business School in Maritime, Trade and Finance in theUK.

Mr. Hakan Yılmazserves as the Board Member of GSD Marin since 2021 and was also appointedDirector in GSD Shipping B.V. in 2018. He is also the Board Member in DodoMaritime Limited, Cano Maritime Limited, Hako Maritime Limited, Zeyno MaritimeLimited, Neco Maritime Limited, Mila Maritime Limited, Lena Maritime Limited,Nehir Maritime Limited and Nejat Maritime Limited. 

He has been alsoworking as the Vice Chairman of the Board at MTY Delta Denizcilik İç ve DışTicaret A.Ş. since 2021. He is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of GSDEducation Foundation and has been appointed as a Member of the Board ofDirectors of GSD Holding as of May 2022.