Özlenen Eser Kalav

Özlenen Eser Kalav was born and raised in Istanbul. She graduated from Robert College of Istanbul and holds an MS in Biochemistry from Smith College and an MBA in Finance and Management from Columbia Business School. Her academic honors include being the class valedictorian at Robert College and the recipient of a Fulbright grant in 1967 to study in the United States. Her proudest moment was the invitation to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 1990 at her Alma Mater in Istanbul.
 
Mrs. Kalav’s professional life started at Citibank in Athens in1976 as Middle-East North Africa Division’s financial controller, covering over twenty countries. As a Citibank executive she lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Manila, Athens, and Istanbul. During her highly colorful career, she served as CFO for North Asia Division of the bank (which included Japan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea), as Strategic Planning Officer for Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East Group, and also as Director of Recruiting for Citibank’s Investment Bank and Institutional Banks. Her career highlight was however as CFO and Division Chief Administrative Officer for Japan and Korea, based in Tokyo, from 1985 to 1988. During this period, she managed complex organizational restructuring of Citibank in Japan, including business refocus, productivity process improvements, work force reduction through early retirement programs and complex labor and regulatory issues arising from these changes. She was a member of Citibank Japan’s Policy Committee and Asset/Liability Committee and chaired Citi-Japan’s Country Human Resources Committee. As a woman senior executive in Japan, a unique phenomenon in the 1980’s, she was frequently interviewed by local newspapers and magazines!

Following a brief partnership in a solar energy start-up company, in charge of business development and finance, in mid 1990’s, Mrs. Kalav set up her own business advising foreign investors and institutions in the highly active privatization and M&A markets in Turkey.
 
Mrs. Kalav is a long time resident of New York City and has been actively involved in volunteer work in her community, including the Central Park Conservancy. She has served in various elected positions, as President of her residential co-op building and President of Robert College Alumni Association of America, and continues to serve as a director and officer in these organizations. Most recently, she has become a founding director and President and CEO of the Turkish Philanthropic Fund.