Firat is chairman of the board of directors of SoftCom, a Canadian company he co-founded in 1997 and Chairman of NTF Construction Co.
In his role as chairman, Firat puts his leadership and vision to work for SoftCom. He is a strong advocate for corporate transparency, pursuit of excellence in innovation and accountability at all levels of the organization.
At NTF, which was founded in 1995, Firat successfully led the company through several landmark projects, starting with the Dalaman-Akkopru Hydroelectric Power Plant & Dam (8th largest in Turkey) construction and most recently with the signing of the Pervari HEPP project backed by a Turkish-Swiss-American consortium. Once completed, Pervari HEPP will supply 1300 Gwh per year in energy production, representing about 500MW installed capacity, which is over 1% of the total installed capacity in Turkey.
Firat and the co-founders of SoftCom were members of the Akkopru project group who were awarded the prestigious New Horizons award by the Young Turkish BusinessMen association in 1997. The award was in recognition of the group's efforts in the implementation of the "GPS supported construction site automation", the first non-military GPS technology application in Turkey. Firat is an avid mountaineer, who recently climbed Mount Everest, and an amateur pilot. You can follow his journey to the top of seven summits of the world at his personal blog.
Firat holds a bachelor of science degree in Civil Engineering from Istanbul
Technical University.
Firat is also a member of TUSIAD and American Turkish Council.
Turker Ugur Sokullu, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Turker Sokullu is one of the co-founders of SoftCom and has taken over as CEO in March, 2009. Turker sets overall business strategy for SoftCom, a leading shared web hosting and Microsoft® Exchange based email services provider in Canada.
During his tenure, Turker has worn many hats putting countless hours in IT operations, R&D and customer support, tirelessly promoting the technology and excellence in service that has made SoftCom a leader in its market. A personal source of pride, earlier applications for myhosting.com and mail2web were meticulously coded by Turker setting the tone early on for SoftCom's commitment to best practices in development.
Turker started his career in 1995 as a Software Developer at SuperOnline, a national ISP in Turkey, and later became IT Manager of SoftCom Chairman Firat Eren’s company, NTF Construction Co. While at NTF, Turker was a key member of the team that implemented the GPS supported construction site automation system used by engineering and management teams in a hydroelectric power plant construction site. The automation project won the New Horizons award given out by the Young Turkish Businessmen association in 1997.
Turker received a B.S. in Computer Engineering and Information Science from Bilkent University.
Kaan Bora Soran, Chief Operating Officer
Kaan Bora joined SoftCom at the end of 2005 and serves as the Chief Operating Officer since September 2006.
Before joining SoftCom, Kaan Bora worked at Alcatel-Lucent in engineering, professional services, supply chain management and project management positions while traveling extensively in Asia and Europe. Kaan Bora brings extensive general and project management experience in wireless telecommunications and internet industry.
Kaan Bora holds a bachelor of science degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. He is also a PMI certified Project Management Professional and a PADI Dive Master.
Celal Ulgen, Chief Marketing Officer
Celal is responsible for leading the company’s efforts in all areas of marketing.
Most recently, Celal served as Director, Private Equity, on the Aprilis Ventures team focusing on infrastructure, e-commerce, and web services investments.
Prior to Aprilis, Celal led the Technology Properties Group at VerticalScope, a leading International Media Company that creates authoritative industry portals, directories and content services. At VerticalScope, he was responsible for managing day to day operations of the division along with marketing and business development activities.
Before joining Aprilis, Celal was VP, Marketing at InQuent Technologies, a private label application hosting services firm. At InQuent, Celal managed all of InQuent's product planning for shared web hosting, email, and e-commerce solutions for the private label clients and their end-user customers.
Celal holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University, and an MBA from University of Toronto.
Michael S. Carr, Chief Financial Officer
Michael is responsible for managing all of the financial and legal affairs for the company.
Michael joined SoftCom in 2001 in a Business Development, Sales and Marketing capacity before transitioning to the role of CFO in 2006. Before joining SoftCom, Michael was responsible for managing Business Development and Marketing at InQuent Technologies, a private label application hosting services firm.
Michael has worked in various product management, business development and sales capacities since 1995 at companies such as AT&T Canada, Infopreneur Inc., ACC TelEnterprises Ltd., Internet Canada and Internex Online.
Michael has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from York University and is working to complete his CFA.
Stephen Nichols, Vice President of Sales
Stephen’s key role is to oversee the customer life cycle experience and drive new sales opportunities through the direct, affiliate and partner channels.
Stephen joined SoftCom in late 2005 and has worked in the Marketing and Customer Support departments. He led the Marketing efforts from October 2007 to March of 2009, when he took on the role of Vice President of Sales.
Stephen brings with him over fifteen years of experience in a variety of sales and customer service roles. He built a solid understanding of the SMB market while operating a print brokering and promotional products business providing small business marketing solutions targeted at generating increased sales and market share for his customers. Prior to that, he worked for a number of retail chains including, Staples, Roots and in the specialty coffee industry as a Brand Manager, Corporate Trainer and District Manager delivering results in both Customer Satisfaction and Relationship Management.
Stephen studied Psychology at York University, and spent four years in the Canadian Military.
Ibrahim Bulent Tezcan, Vice President of Human Resources
Bulent serves as VP, Human Resources and joined the company in October 2001.
Before taking the helm as the head of HR, he has earned his stripes working in a variety of different roles within SoftCom. Bulent and his team's mandate is to ensure SoftCom can attract and retain world class talent, and implement the people strategies and work environment necessary to drive business results.
Before joining SoftCom, Bulent has worked as Sales Planning & Forecasting Manager in Electrolux.
Bulent holds a bachelor of Arts in Management and working towards his CHRP and PMP Designation. He loves riding his motorcycle and he is an avid Lego fan.
Dilber Cetin, Software Development Manager
Dilber joined SoftCom in 1998 and is currently responsible for managing the software development team. Since joining the company, she led many key development projects and has been the guiding force behind many products deployed. Dilber continues to play a critical role in SoftCom's pursuit of innovation and excellence in its technical solutions.
Prior to SoftCom, she worked as a Software Developer at KocSistem, a.k.a Unisys, Turkey. While at KocSitem, she was involved in several large MIS projects. Dilber is especially proud of her contributions in the global data consolidation project which involved over 100 subsidiary companies of the Koc Holding Group.
Before joining KocSistem, Dilber worked in Pak Holding - Istanbul in a “Material Requirement Planning” project in the IT department
Earlier in her career, Dilber cut her teeth in the research and development department in Alcatel, where she worked on several high profile projects.
Dilber holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Technical University Varna, Bulgaria. She is Microsoft Certified Solution Developer.
Darish Rajanayagam, Operations Manager
Darish is responsible for the technical operations of the company. Darish brings to SoftCom over 9 years experience in IT management, network analysis, server management, systems implementation and administration.
Prior to SoftCom, Darish worked at Rand Worldwide, a leading provider of professional services and technology to the engineering community, as the IT Manager responsible for Europe and Asia Pacific.
Darish holds certifications in Microsoft, Cisco, NetApp and BlackBerry technologies. Darish is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
Modestos Gikizas, Customer Support Manager
Modestos joined SoftCom in 2003 and is responsible for leading its Customer Support Team.
During his tenure at SoftCom, Modestos has helped redefine company's customer support practices. He was a key contributor in the process of converting customer support from an email only support system to 24/7 phone, chat and email support to all the customers. Modestos was also instrumental in the creation of the Account Manager program, which he was a key member of, before assuming the Customer Support Manager role.
Before joining the company Modestos worked as a Service Representative for Minacs, a business process outsourcing solutions provider.
Modestos studied History and Political Science at the University of Toronto and holds a diploma in E-Business Technologies from Durham College.
Timur Catakli, General Manager, SoftCom AS Turkey
Timur Catakli has joined SoftCom in 2008 and currently working as General Manager for the brand www.daha.net - SoftCom Turkey. In his current role, Timur is responsible of leading all affairs of daha.net.
Prior to SoftCom, Timur has worked in Internet related technologies at Superonline, Turkey's first Internet Service Provider. In 1997, he moved to San Francisco, CA and continued his career. In his 12 years of Silicon Valley experience gave him in-depth knowledge of Internet related technologies. Timur's involvement in multiple entrepreneurial Internet related start-ups got mentioned in Business Week, San Francisco Chronicle and MSNBC.
Timur holds a B.Sc in Engineering from Yildiz Technical University, and a MBA from San Francisco State University. He also holds certificates on Project Management, Quality Management, Human Factors and Team Dynamics from University of California, Berkeley.
Halil Mersin, Senior Business Developer
Before joining SoftCom, Ibrahim Halil worked as a consultant for various Silicon Valley companies providing expertise in business development, project management, and wide range of internet technologies. Ibrahim Halil brings over thirteen years of experience in Internet related business development and execution.
Prior to his Silicon Valley venture, Ibrahim Halil worked for three ISPs in Turkey during first years of Internet in the country forming team and developing infrastructure of network, helpdesk and customer services.
Ibrahim Halil holds a Master of Business Administration degree from UCSF and bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Yildiz Technical University. He also holds certificates on Project Management and Supply Chain Management.
Kevin Wall, Direct Sales Manager
Kevin Wall joined SoftCom in 2009 as Direct Sales Manager, reporting to the COO, and is responsible for setting objectives and delivering results to drive the SoftCom Business Services unit. Kevin has a passion for helping customers increase their business value through effective use of cloud based messaging and collaboration services.
Kevin comes to SoftCom with a successful sales career helping start-up companies increase revenue in strategic markets leading to significant and beneficial liquidity events. Selected highlights include Canadian sales manager for Postini (acquired by Google), Canadian sales manager for Intershop (IPO), and Western Canadian sales manager for Network Computing Devices (IPO).
Kevin received a B.A., specialized honors, in computer science from York University in Toronto.
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