Board of Directors
Houssem Ben Haj Amor
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Amor, who was elected as a Board Member at our Bank in March 2020, has been serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of our Bank since July 2022. Mr. Amor also became a Board Member and Group Chief Executive Officer of Al Baraka Group (ABG) in October 2022. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Al Baraka Bank’s subsidiaries in Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and Bahrain. With more than 25 years of experience in the finance industry across the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, Mr. Amor has held key leadership roles in banking and financial institutions. Before his current role, he served as ABG’s Deputy CEO and Head of Business Development and Investments. In these roles, he developed products and business initiatives across the Group, oversaw commercial banking and treasury functions, and managed the Group’s strategy department.
Dr. Bekir Pakdemirli
Deputy Chairman of the Board
He received his bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University, Department of Business Administration, and his master’s degree from Başkent University, Department of Business Administration, which is followed by his doctorate studies in Economics at Celal Bayar University. Throughout his professional career over 20 years, he held senior management positions in significant national and international companies including Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., BİM Birleşik Mağazalar A.Ş. and our Bank. In July 2018, by the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, he has been appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Dr. Pakdemirli has served as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Türkiye until March 2022. Dr. Pakdemirli serves as a board member at our Bank, Albaraka Portfolio Management Company as well BİM Birleşik Mağazalar A.Ş..
Azhar Aziz Dogar
Board Member
In 1990, he received his bachelor’s degree on Economics and Political Science from University of Pennsylvania. He received his master’s degree in 1992, from Brown University as a result of his studies on development economics. He commenced his career with Citigroup in its investment banking division and later moved to ABN AMRO Bank taking on a variety of leadership roles including Deputy Regional Risk Manager for MENA and Head of Credit Portfolio Management. He served as Chief Risk Officer for DIB Capital, and for SAMBA Capital. At National Bank of Abu Dhabi, he served as the Chief Risk Officer and the Chief Credit Officer for Wholesale & International Banking. He has also been a board member of Dubai Islamic Bank in Pakistan. Mr. Dogar who currently serves as Senior Vice President in charge of Credit and Risk Management at Al Baraka Group and the Chairman of Al Baraka Bank Pakistan, has over 30 years of international banking experience.
Akram “Mark” Yassin
Board Member
Mark is a seasoned banking professional with over 30 years of international banking experience. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Surrey in the UK, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Mark began his banking career in 1990 at the Bank of Montreal in Toronto. He has since worked with several prominent financial institutions, most recently serving as Executive Chairman for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Nomura International Plc, in Dubai, London, and Tokyo. He also held the position of Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), overseeing the bank’s business in 22 countries from Hong Kong to Washington, DC. Mark’s strategic vision has profoundly influenced banking in the Middle East. He has held senior roles at various institutions, including Arab Bank Plc, ABC Bank, and Gulf International Bank, with expertise in investment banking, corporate finance, project finance, and wholesale banking. Recognized for cultivating key client relationships and driving growth, Mark’s contributions have shaped regional banking strategies and elevated standards within the MENA banking industry.
Dr. Khaled Abdulla Mohamed Ateeq
Board Member
Dr. Ateeq holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom and has over 38 years of experience in banking, finance, auditing, and accounting. He currently serves as a board member at Al Baraka Group. Prior to this position, Dr. Ateeq served as the Executive Director of Banking Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Before his role at the Central Bank of Bahrain, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Bahrain. Dr. Ateeq currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of the Al Baraka Group and the Group’s subsidiary in Bahrain, and chairs the board of directors of Albaraka Sudan.
Turgut Simitcioğlu
Board Member
He completed his undergraduate studies in 1989 at the Faculty of Education, King Saud University, in Saudi Arabia, and his postgraduate studies in Business Administration at the Institute of Social Sciences, Fatih University. Simitcioğlu began his professional career at Albaraka Türk in 1990, serving in the Fund Utilisation Department, the Central Branch and the Corporate Banking Department early in his career at the Bank. He worked as Manager of the Central Branch between 2003 and 2009. Simitcioğlu was appointeda Assistant General Manager in December 2009 and served as Senior Assistant General Manager from January 2017 to 2026, assuming various responsibilities within our Bank. In addition to our Bank’s Board of Directors, Simitcioğlu serves on the boards of directors of following companies: Katılım Finance and Pension, Albaraka Portfolio Management Company, Albaraka Tech Global, Albaraka Culture and Arts, Insha Ventures, and City Partners.
Ömer Çekiç
Independent Board Member
He graduated from the Department of Economics at Marmara University in 2006 and began his career as an auditor at a UK-based international independent audit firm in Istanbul, Turkey, in the same year. After working at the same firm for over 10 years, he continues his career at RAM Global as a Founding and Managing Partner. Throughout his career, he has provided services in the fields of independent auditing and corporate finance to clients in both Turkey and numerous other countries. In addition to his extensive experience in independent auditing, within the Corporate Finance division, he has overseen the initial public offerings (IPOs) of numerous companies, as well as the acquisition transactions of both domestic and international firms. Çekiç was elected as an independent member of our Bank’s Board of Directors in March 2026.
Dalia Hazem Khorshid
Board Member
Mrs. Dalia Hazem Khorshid is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Beltone Financial Holding (BTFH.CA) – a leading, full-fledged investment bank in the MENA region. With over 25 years of global experience in the banking and financial sector, she has held various leadership roles and advised on landmark transactions, including private placements, investment strategies, and M&A deals in the region.
Her career spans the private and public sectors. She founded and chaired MASAR Financial Advisory and Eagle Capital for Financial Investment where she advised on fundraising, corporate finance, project finance, M&A advisory, and the management of more than 50 strategic investments and transactions worth approximately USD 44 billion. Mrs. Khorshid also served as Minister of Investment for the Government of Egypt where she spearheaded the development of the country’s investment law and successfully launched Egypt’s 3-5-year IPO programme. Khorshid was elected as a Board Member to our Bank in March 2026.
Malek Khodr Temsah
General Manager and Board Member
In 2003, he received his Bachelor of Business Administration from The George Washington University and in 2006 he completed his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management. Temsah began his professional career in 2003 at Bank of America and continued at the London-based European Islamic Investment Bank from 2007 to 2009. He joined Al Baraka Group in 2010, where he was responsible for the global sukuk portfolio in the sukuk desk he founded until 2014. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee at BTI Bank (Morocco). Temsah joined Albaraka Türk in 2014 and served as Deputy General Manager in charge of Treasury, Financial Institutions, and Investment Banking from 2017 to 2022. From October 2021 to August 2022, he has served as the Acting General Manager in addition to his above-mentioned duty. On 07.08.2022, Mr. Temsah was appointed as the General Manager of our Bank by the Board of Directors of Albaraka Turk.