Hall of Fame: A. Umit Taftali

A. Umit Taftali
BS finance, 1985

Current Position: Founded and manages the Suna Kiraç (Koç) Family Office

Previous Employment: Founding partner of Cesmig & Taftali, a private equity investment partnership in London; executive director and country head at Goldman Sachs International; vice president in global merchant banking and mergers and acquisitions groups at Bankers Trust Company; vice president in corporate finance at Balentine & Company; associate at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.

Additional Education: MBA 1987, University of South Carolina

Affiliations

• Chair, Ball State University Foundation Investment Committee
• Member, Executive Committee of Koç Holding
• Member, Board of Kiraça Holding and of Suna and Inan Kiraç Foundation
• Member, Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association
• Member, Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey
• Member, American Turkish Society
• Member, Turkish Bankers Association (UK)
• Member, University of South Carolina Educational Foundation

Honors: The A. Umit Taftali Center for Capital Markets and Investing opened in the Miller College of Business in fall 2010. The center is a technology-rich classroom/laboratory that simulates a real-world financial environment such as Wall Street.