About the Organization

General James L. Jones is the former commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, where he led all military operations for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as former National Security Advisor.

Jones graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and was commissioned into the Marine Corps in January 1967. He served in Vietnam before attending the Amphibious Warfare School in 1973 and the National War College in 1985, and serving as Marine Corps liaison officer to the U.S. Senate. He was also commanding officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Northern Iraq and Turkey on Operation Provide Comfort; chief of staff, Joint Task Force Provide Promise, for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia; and commanding general, 2nd Marine Division, Marine Forces Atlantic. Jones also served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from 1997-99 before becoming the 32nd commandant of the United States Marine Corps in July 1999.

During his NATO assignment from 2003-2006, he advocated energy security and the defense of critical infrastructures as a core part of NATO's future missions. In his capacity with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Jones worked to unite energy consumers and producers for a common goal - to increase the variety of the U.S. energy supply and associated infrastructures, to advance international cooperation on energy issues, to protect national energy security, and to promote better understanding of changes to the global climate and its effects on the environment.

Upon retirement in February 2007, Jones became president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy and, in 2008, served as the State Department's Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security. From 2009 until 2010, he served as President Obama's National Security Advisor at the White House.

General Jones - sought-after by, and distinguished among, politicians of every stripe - offers a vast wealth of knowledge and speaks with poise and authority about national and international security, energy, and leadership requirements for success in the 21st century.

General Jones joined the American-Turkish Council in January 2014 as Chairman.

Tamer Saka of Sabanci Holding has received his undergraduate, master, and doctorate degree from the Istanbul University Faculty of Business Administration. Mr. Saka served served as Manager and Senior Manager responsible for Risk Management Consultant services in Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young companies, and then joined the Sabancı Holding in 2004 as Risk Management Director. Tamer Saka served as Managing Director responsible for the business development activities of approximately 20 countries, including Turkey, for Willis London from 2010 to 2011. Assuming the position of Strategy and Business Development Coordinator at Kibar Holding as of December 2011, Saka continued as Head of Automotive and Corporate Functions Group and Kibar Holding Board Member as of May 2012. Dr. Tamer Saka serves as the CEO of Kibar Holding since 2014, and is appointed as the Head of Cement Group of the Sabancı Holding as of April 2, 2018.

Tamer Saka joined American-Turkish Council as the Vice Chairman in 2016

Howard Garrett Beasey is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American-Turkish Council, a bilateral, non-profit organization dedicated to the strengthening of U.S.-Turkish trade, investment, defense and cultural relations, and to the promotion of awareness and understanding of U.S.-Turkish issues.

Howard G. Beasey is an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran and retired United States Marine. Enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1993 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in August 2000, after having completed his undergraduate education at North Carolina State University. For more than two decades Mr. Beasey served his country honorably.

His journey with Turkey started in 2006, when he attended the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA completing his Master of Arts in National Security Affairs and Foreign Policy and attended the Defense Language Institute and completed Turkish language instruction. Designated as a Turkish Foreign Area Officer and assigned to the region, he developed a deep respect for Turkish culture, diversity, and international engagement. Upon returning from Afghanistan in 2010, Mr. Beasey was assigned to the Pentagon as the European Affair Officer for the International Affairs Branch of Headquarters Marine Corps, where he continued to develop and grow his ability to engage with military and government leaders across Europe and NATO to build and secure this important relationship. Retiring in 2014 he joined Goldman Sachs Bank in New York and in 2015 he took over his current position as the President and CEO of the American-Turkish Council.

During his tenure he has led the council’s government relations strategy in both Turkey and the United States while providing business and government leaders critical advice during a time in the bilateral relationship that included an attempted coup, constitutional referendum, and significant diplomatic rifts between the two countries. Along the way the Council, under his leadership, established its first every U.S. bound trade mission for Turkish companies, continued to plan and organize an annual conference featuring 500-plus participants, 20 industries, 280 businesses, and 85 speakers and panelist, that grossed more the $750k in revenue, and continues to provide high quality membership offerings through quarterly international trips, business engagement and networking opportunities, monthly newsletters, economic summary reports, and sectoral based summits. Through these efforts, the council continues to maintain positive membership growth year over year and creates significant membership value with an annual operating budget of 1.6 million dollars. Through his years of leadership and international relations experience, from battlefields to boardrooms, Mr. Beasey has a demonstrated ability to advise, problem solve and help achieve the desired outcomes no matter what the circumstances in this critical relationship. Mr. Beasey joined American-Turkish Council in February 2015 as the President and CEO.

Fatih Orhan is the Executive Director at the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington, DC and has more than 5 years of experience in project/program and financial management. He was born and raised in Ankara, Turkey and attended Baskent University. After earning his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, he moved to Washington, DC to pursue his MBA and Masters in Project Management degrees at Keller Graduate School of Management of Devry University in 2008. He completed both of his Master’s with distinction.

Fatih joined ATC in 2011 as a Financial and Business Analyst and promoted to the Director of Finance in 2013. Prior to joining ATC, Fatih completed two engineering internships at Tusas Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Turk Traktor in Ankara. He also worked as an IT Helpdesk Technician while earning his master's degree in VA.

Fatih is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Scrum Master Certified (SMC). He is a member of Project Management Institute (PMI) and its Washington, DC Chapter since 2009. He is passionate about learning new project management skills. He speaks Turkish and English, natively. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Zeynep, and their dog, Bella. They currently live in Potomac, MD.

During her work experiences in news channels as an intern, she developed a strong passion for the public relations field. As a result, she decided to explore this discipline and obtained her Master of Arts in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations from the California State University of Fullerton in 2009. Simultaneously, she took an opportunity to be the assistant coach and media relations for the university’s tennis team. After the completion of her master degree, she returned home to Turkey and began work as a brand and social media manager for Wyndham Ankara. From 2014 until 2016, she worked as the Marketing Coordinator at The Leadership Edge, a business management consulting firm, in La Jolla, CA.

She enjoys traveling, reading and spending time with friends and family.

Zeynep Ergin is the Senior Programs Associate at the American-Turkish Council (ATC). She was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, but moved to the US for her high school education after receiving an athletic scholarship from the swimming program at the University of Texas in Austin, TX. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Applied Mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College.

In 2016, she completed her Masters in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University, where she extensively studied and researched such topics as environmental and energy policy, renewable energy, and natural resource economics. Zeynep hopes to apply her educational background to develop ATC's government and industry engagement strategies on responsible development.

Zeynep was a licensed swimmer of both Fenerbahce and ENKA Swimming Teams in Turkey for more than 10 years, and was selected to be a member of the Turkish National Swimming Team. She broke a total of 6 national and international records and became a candidate for a position on the Turkish National Olympic Swimming Team for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.