Emine Esra Varan holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a top national ranking from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul/Turkey. She is also a certified Credit Risk Manager from Manchester Business School in the UK and is highly qualified through numerous executive training programmes in banking, corporate finance, corporate governance and leadership.
She began her professional career in the management trainee programme at Yapı Kredi Bank in Turkey and subsequently took on various specialist roles with increasing responsibility in retail, corporate customer and private banking business. Her achievements led to her promotion to Corporate Sales Unit Manager, Head of Foreign Subsidiaries and Head of Foreign Subsidiaries & Budget Planning, with particular responsibility for coordinating the bank's international activities. Her next internal career step was as Deputy General Manager in Moscow, where she was responsible in particular for realigning the customer portfolio, product mix and credit policy with newly defined strategic goals.
Emine Esra Varan then worked in owner-managed corporate groups with several companies in Russia as Vice President, CFO and General Manager, collaborating closely with founders and operational teams in both finance and day-to-day business. This practical experience in setting up management and financial systems in growing companies formed an important basis for her later specialisation in medium-sized and family-run businesses.
At the same time, she worked as an independent Financial Advisor and Business Coach, supporting Turkish companies with business activities in Russia, focusing on financial restructuring, financial control and sustainable growth. She was also a Country Advisor for the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear & Apparel Exporters' Association (İHKİB), responsible for Russia and the CIS countries.
Recently, she held executive and C-level positions at Universal Bank Ltd. in Turkey, where she progressed from Head of Treasury & Finance to Executive Vice President and Board Member until becoming Chairperson of the Board, with particular responsibility for strengthening the bank's financial performance and long-term resilience while improving corporate governance standards.
Her professional career includes positions in banking, multicultural corporations and medium-sized companies with a strong focus on management. Through close collaboration with founders, families and shareholders in various contexts, she has developed particular expertise in owner-managed, often multi-generational family businesses. She understands how important it is to balance culture and values as well as entrepreneurial flexibility with governance, clear decision-making rights and professional management structures. For example, she has developed a 16-week programme to systematise management for medium-sized, often family-run companies.
In addition, Emine Esra Varan supports companies in the service sector in designing and implementing effective financial and controlling structures – from planning and budgeting to management reporting and KPI dashboards.
Her approach is reflective and thoughtful. She draws on her interest in philosophy and her intercultural experiences to question assumptions and view issues from different perspectives. Calm reflection, attentive listening and well-founded decisions are at the heart of her approach to people and organisations.
Emine Esra Varan is your top Expert in the fields of Strategic Alignment, Governance, Management Systematisation as well as Finance & Controlling for owner-led, mid-sized and family-run companies.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul/Turkey
- Certified Credit Risk Manager, Manchester Business School, UK
- Various executive training programmes in the areas of banking, corporate finance, corporate governance and leadership
- Board & Management Consulting for family businesses
- Professionalisation of Leadership & Governance Structures in owner-led businesses
- Owner, Board and Management Alignment
- Management Systematisation for owner-led mid-sized & family businesses
- Business Transformation & Institutionalisation
- Strategy Development & Performance Management
- Finance & Controlling in multi-company groups & cross-cultural environments
- Project Management in Family Business Transformations
- Management & C-level responsibilities at Universal Bank Ltd. in Turkey:
- Chairperson of the Board, responsible in particular for strengthening the bank's financial performance & long-term resilience while improving corporate governance standards.
- Board Member: responsible or jointly responsible in particular for corporate governance and the bank's business strategy.
- Executive Vice President: Head of the Credit, Treasury, Marketing & Human Resources departments with direct responsibility for profitability, operational efficiency & risk management. Established a results-oriented culture in all departments with target-based performance & evaluation systems.
- Head of Treasury & Finance: Reorganisation of fund management & treasury functions with treasury profit share of over 30% of total profit, cross-departmental coordination & redesign of workflows with a 25% reduction in daily liquidity requirements.
- Independent Financial Advisor & Business Coach for Turkish companies operating in the Russian market or planning to enter the market, focusing on financial restructuring, financial control & sustainable growth. Also Country Advisor for the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear & Apparel Exporters' Association (İHKİB) with responsibility for Russia and the CIS countries.
- General Manager at Orgavita Catering, responsible in particular for the institutionalisation process of the group's industrial catering.
- Vice President (CFO & General Manager) of the Park Avenue Group, responsible in particular for reorganising the group's financial processes, cash flow management, reducing financing costs, supplier agreements, group budgeting & planning processes.
- Vice President at Disambar Group Companies, responsible in particular for financial management, restructuring & professionalisation of management structures in her role as CFO & General Manager.
- Professional & management experience at Yapı Kredi Bank in Turkey and Moscow:
- Deputy General Manager in Moscow: responsible in particular for realigning the customer portfolio, product mix & credit policy with newly defined strategic goals. Reorganisation of structures & processes to increase business performance: improving the risk-return ratio and achieving higher profitability per customer & per employee.
- Head of Foreign Subsidiaries & Budget Planning: responsible in particular for coordinating international activities and the budgeting & planning process of the private banking department.
- Head of Foreign Subsidiaries: responsible in particular for coordinating banking transactions in Europe and the CIS countries, jointly responsible for sales of subsidiaries & mergers.
- Corporate Sales Unit Manager: responsible in particular for pricing, authorisation & budgeting for corporate customer branches, representative of the corporate customer business in the change management team during the merger process with Kocbank.
- Marketing Specialist for topics such as product management, customer segmentation, SME banking and profitability management systems.
- Customer Relationship Manager: Advising multinational corporate clients in the branches in Cayırova & Kartal, selling the bank's first derivative product.
- Assistant Specialist: Started in the management trainee programme and then moved to private & corporate client advisory services: development & implementation of individual financial strategies & financing.
Philosophy, history of ideas, sports science, strength training, boxing, healthy ageing, meditation, mindfulness practices, horror films.
Yılmazturk Cad. No: 92/2, Buyukada
34970 Istanbul/Turkey
Email: turkey@insecogo.com
