Lale Saral Develioğlu has 30 years of experience in marketing, strategy, business development and general management at multinational companies, mainly in B2C, Telecommunications and Consumer Goods markets.
She spent 12 years at Unilever and 11 years at Turkcell as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief International Businesses Officer. During her period in Turkcell, she was responsible for the consumer business with full P&L responsibility, driving the brand and growth strategy and leading critical transition projects such as 3G launch, number portability and customer experience management. While she was in charge of International Businesses, she led Turkcell group companies in 8 countries as well as international expansion strategy and plans, with full P&L responsibility across telecoms and other industries including customer services and gaming, delivering high double-digit growth every year. Lastly, she spent 3.5 years at Yıldız Holding and Pladis, playing an instrumental role in building the brand strategy during the formation of the global confectionery company based in the UK.
She was elected “Best Marketing Person” of Turkey in 2009; won the “Women to Watch” award for Marketing in 2014 andis among “Top 100 Influencers” in global Creativepool Annual 2018.
She has served as Executive Board Member of Advertisers’ Association of Turkey (RVD) and AdvertisingSelf-regulatory Body (RÖK).
She has worked as an instructor at Bilgi University, teaching “Strategic Brand Management in executive master’s program.
She has held executive and independent board director roles in various companies (telecommunications, CPG, retail, customer service, gaming) across Turkey, Middle East, CIS countries and Europe.
She is currently a board director at Anadolu Efes, Aksa Akrilik and Nobel Pharmacy.
She is also a mentor at INSEAD University INSights Director Mentoring Program and YKKD Mentoring Program; strategy and brand consultant to various companies; and Mentoro Consulting business partner.
She is an active member of women leadership organizations. She is one of the founders and board members of YKKD (Women on Board Association) and a member of IWF (International Women Forum).
She is a technology enthusiast and a certified angel investor with 6 investments in technology companies in Turkey and USA.
She is the author of a book titled ‘Karar Verdim’,a personal development book on effective decision making, published in 2015.
She is married and has one son, Mert.
Ms. Develioglu also holds a master’s degree in Management Engineering and Operations Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, and bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Bogaziçi University.