Our Board

Gürsel Usta

Chairman | Istanbul, Turkey

President & CEO of Glass and Chemical, Ciner Group.

Gürsel has held several roles including General Manager, Board member and Chairman in various group companies.

Alasdair Warren

CEO | London, UK

Executive Board Director, senior management responsibility for WE Soda.

Prior to joining WE Soda in 2018, Alasdair held various senior corporate and investment banking roles for almost 30 years, most recently as the Head of Corporate & Investment Banking EMEA at Deutsche Bank.

Tom Hinton

CFO | London, UK

Executive Board Director, WE Soda Group Chief Financial Officer.

Tom joined WE Soda in 2020, with significant prior experience in Group CFO roles, most recently at Domestic & General, the UK-based insurance and warranty business, and at Infinis, the FTSE 250 listed alternative energy business.

Didem Ciner

Executive Director | London, UK

Director of WE Soda and Ciner Glass Ltd, and President of Ciner Media.

Didem has held director roles in various companies within the Ciner Group since 2005.

Mehmet Ali Erdogan

Chief Legal Officer

Executive Director and in-house counsel for WE Soda.

Mehmet Ali has been a legal advisor to a number of Ciner group companies for over 15 years, and a practicing solicitor and lawyer for over 25 years. He is a dual qualified English solicitor and Turkish lawyer with offices in both the UK and Turkey.

Sir Peter Westmacott

Non-independent Director | London, UK

Board member.

HM Diplomatic Service 1972-2016. British Ambassador to Turkey, France and USA.

Sir Peter Westmacott is currently an independent non-executive director with EY LLP and is the Vice Chairman of Tellus Matrix LLP.

Ergun Ozen

Non-independent Director | London, UK

Board member.

Former president and CEO of Garanti Bank, one of Turkey's largest financial institutions, for 15 years.

Suat Ince

Non-independent Director | Istanbul, Turkey

CFO of Ciner Group.

Before joining Ciner Group, Suat was CEO & General Manager of TSKB-Industrial Development Bank of Turkey and prior to this, he was deputy CEO at Isbank and held many senior finance and business roles, including non-executive Board positions at a number of leading Turkish companies.

Arif Sinan Solaklar

Non-independent Director | Istanbul, Turkey

VP, Global Sales and Marketing WE Soda.

Before joining the Ciner Group in 2009, Sinan worked at ŞİŞECAM for over 25 years as VP of Sales and Marketing for Soda Ash.

Vasileios Papakalodoukas

Non-independent Director | Istanbul, Turkey

CEO of Ciner Shipping and Ciner Shipping UK Ltd. Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Ciner Ship Management.

Before joining the Ciner Group in 2009, Vasileios held a number of senior managerial roles within the global shipping industry and has over 25 years of shipping experience.