The Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Turkish businessman and entrepreneur Orhan Taner as its new director in Istanbul heading the Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit, and representing the Council in Turkey.

As an accomplished leader and problem-solver, Taner will lend his extensive business development and large-scale event management experience as director of the Council’s Istanbul operations. In this capacity, he will be instrumental in furthering the Summit’s goals of advancing regional cooperation, investment, and trade; as well as in promoting new transatlantic partnerships. Representing the Council’s first and only overseas office, Taner will work towards creating further opportunities for engagement in the region.

“I am excited to welcome this accomplished business leader to the Council team to direct our successful Energy and Economic Summit,” said Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe.

Taner recently served as the founding director of Contemporary Istanbul, the first and internationally-acclaimed contemporary art fair in Turkey. He was also managing director of Bankers Trust Company in New York City, where over his fourteen-year tenure he established many new businesses for the institutions, including Turk Merchant Bank, an Istanbul-based joint-venture investment bank. He also co-founded and chaired the Turkish American Business Forum in New York City. Taner graduated with honors from Hamilton College and received his master’s degree from Harvard University.

“Orhan’s experience, relationships, and talent will greatly enhance our ability to build cooperation and positively impact developments in this critical region of the world,” said Atlantic Council Eurasia Center Director Ross Wilson, who is the former ambassador to Turkey (2005-08) and Azerbaijan (2000-03).

Also joining the Eurasia Center as deputy director in Washington, DC, is David Koranyi, who will provide program development and intellectual leadership to catalyze local, regional, and global strategies that reinforce economic and political well-being in the broader Eurasia region. Koranyi was a research fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Centre for Transatlantic Relations after serving as undersecretary of state to the prime minister of the Republic of Hungary. He also worked as chief foreign policy advisor and head of cabinet to a Hungarian member of the European Parliament.

Now entering its fourth year, the Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit is a flagship initiative of the Eurasia Center that will be held on November 15-16, 2012. A unique annual event that brings together business and political leaders to work on economic, energy, and political challenges facing Eurasia and the world, the Summit promotes regional cooperation, investment, and trade by developing a sense of community in the greater Black Sea area. In 2011, the event was attended by some 300 leaders from thirty-five countries and featured specialized breakout sessions, networking opportunities, and access to key decision-makers. For more information, please visit /event/energy-and-economic-summit-2012.

The Atlantic Council’s Istanbul Office can be reached at istanbul@acus.org or on +90 532 485 6336.