Türkiye’s new central bank chief resigns from Marsh McLennan board

Hafize Gaye Erkan has stepped down as a member of the board of Marsh McLennan, a Fortune 500 firm, after she was tapped last week to run Türkiye’s central bank, the company announced on Monday.

A former senior U.S.-based bank executive, Erkan was named as the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) governor on Friday, in what analysts said marked another signal that an economic policy overhaul could be in the pipeline of the newly elected government.

Erkan came on the board of Marsh McLennan, one of the world’s leading professional services firms in the areas of risk, strategy and people, in early 2022 and served on the Audit and Directors and Governance committees.

“We would like to thank Gaye for her service at Marsh McLennan and recognize the contributions of her insights and operational experience during her tenure on our Board of Directors,” said Edward Hanway, Independent Chairperson of Marsh & McLennan Companies’ board of directors.

“We wish her all the best in her new role,” Hanway noted.

The Princeton-educated Erkan is the first woman at the helm of Türkiye’s central bank, taking over from Sahap Kavcıoğlu, who spearheaded the easing drive that saw the monetary authority slashing its benchmark policy rate to 8.5% from 19% in 2021.

Her new role makes her one of only around a dozen women currently serving as central bank governors around the world, including the likes of European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina and Serbia’s Jorgovanka Tabakovic.

Erkan holds degrees from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, graduated from Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University.

She joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 as an associate and was named a managing director in 2011, making her one of many alumni of the Wall Street bank who have taken up prominent positions in the world of monetary policymaking, from former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney to former ECB President Mario Draghi and former New York Fed President William Dudley.

From Goldman, she joined First Republic Bank, where she eventually took over as co-CEO in June 2021. Her resignation there in December 2021 surprised investors, who had expected her to eventually take the reigns at the major U.S. lender, which collapsed in late April this year. She received a $10 million severance package, according to the bank’s filings.

Erkan was named CEO at Greystone, a real estate finance and investment firm, in June last year. But she resigned in December. Greystone said at the time that her departure was “amicable” and “related to her decision to focus on new opportunities in the financial sector.”

Erkan is widely seen as a respected figure in the financial industry and featured on Crain’s Notable Women in Banking & Finance list.