Ahmet served as an Executive Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company until his retirement in March 2016, serving as the President of Coca-Cola International since January 1, 2013. In that position, he was responsible for all units outside North America.
Ahmet began his career in 1983 as an Assistant Professor at the DeVry Institute of Technology. He joined the audit firm Coopers & Lybrand in Atlanta in 1985, serving in a variety of audit, consultancy & management roles.
He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1990 as a Financial Control Manager in Atlanta, then moved to his native Turkey in 1992 as Region Finance Manager. In 1994, he joined the Coca-Cola Bottlers of Turkey as Finance Director and was named Managing Director of the bottler in 1998. He rejoined The Coca-Cola Company in 2000 as President of the Eurasia Division.
During 2000 to 2012, Ahmet’s responsibilities increased from a geographic scope of 9 countries to 90 as the President of Eurasia and Africa Group, including Africa, India, Russia, the Middle East, and Eurasia.
A founding member of The Coca-Cola Turkey Life Plus Foundation, Ahmet also previously served as head of various business councils, including Brazil – US, US-Pakistan, and U.S. – Turkey business councils. In 2013, Ahmet was named Chair of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) and served in that capacity until 2016.
Following his retirement, Ahmet assumed various non-executive business roles around the globe. He is an advisory board member of Swire Coca-Cola, a Board member at Hepsi Burada and ESAS Holding in Turkey, and a member of Ashoka Support Network. He is also a Board Member of the Turkish Philanthropy Funds in New York. He holds various advisory Board membership positions at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Youth development is Ahmet’s top priority, and to that end, he is committed to various initiatives in this area.
Ahmet has a Master of Science in Business Info Systems from Georgia State University, U.S., and a Bachelor of Science in Business Admin from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He is married to Fatos and has two children, Kerem and Esra.