Ömer Koç

Koç was born on March 24, 1962, in Ankara, Turkey. A third generation of the Koç family, he is the second son of Rahmi Koç and grandson of Vehbi Koç, founder of Koç Holding.[2] He graduated from Robert College in Istanbul, attended Millfield School in England, studied at Georgetown University before graduating from Columbia College in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in Ancient Greek. He obtained his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1989.[3][4]

Koç began his business career working at Kofisa Trading Company in Geneva, Switzerland. He joined the family business in 1992 as a finance coordinator and was vice president and president of the Energy Group. He became a member of the board of directors in 2004 and vice chairman in 2008.[3] Shortly after his brother, Mustafa Vehbi Koç, died after a heart attack in 2016, Koç was elected chairman of Koç Holding, Turkey's largest company, in 2016.[5] The company's output contributes nearly 10 percent of Turkey’s total GDP and is the only Turkish company on the Fortune 500 list.[5] He is also chairman of Tüpraş, the largest oil refiner and industrial company in the country.[6][7][8] He is chairman of the board of trustees of Koç University.[9] As of January 2018, Koc owns 0.74% of Koç Holding.[10] He sits on the steering committee of the Bilderberg meeting.[11]

Not much of Koç's personal life is known as he shies away from the public and media.[4] He lives in London and is known for his fondness for both contemporary and classical art.[4][12][13][14] He is a sponsor of the Istanbul Biennial and Turkey's pavilion at the Venice Biennale.[15] He established the nonprofit art space Arter in 2010.[16][14] For his sponsorship of Turkey's contemporary art scene, he was named by ArtReview as of the "100 Most influential people in 2016 in the contemporary artworld."[15] He also maintains an interest in Ottoman art, and has a large Iznik pottery collection.[17] He is reported to have the finest private collection of objects and books about Ottoman history in the world.[16][18][19]

• Official Website at Koç Holding