Tayfun Topkoç joined SAS in January 2019 as Managing Director of the Turkey and Central Asia regions. He has been promoted to the SAS Southeast Europe Managing Director position as of August 2020. With more than 20 years of experience in technology and innovation, he holds senior management positions in sales and marketing management, as well as business development and country management. Taking an active role in supporting and developing startups, Topkoç has pioneered the innovation efforts of several companies.

Tayfun Topkoç is leading the “Digital Technology Developers” project, with the vision of social responsibility to support young people to gain a career in data science and artificial intelligence, which are listed as top job profiles by global authorities. He also helped and keeps inspiring companies to build a data-driven organization with his team. He takes an active role in the digitalization projects of public institutions and private companies.

Tayfun Topkoç, who has achieved great successes, has been rewarded many times. He was awarded as the most successful CDO in 2018 in the Middle East and was in the Digital 100 list prepared by Fast Company Magazine in 2020, which brings together those leading the digital world in Turkey. He serves as a non-executive board member in key chambers and organizations. He gives lectures on innovation, marketing, and technology at universities, meets with young people, and shares his experience of over 20 years with them.

Before he joined SAS, Tayfun Topkoç served as Group Chief Digital Officer of the Bee'ah Group in the UAE, where he was responsible for diversifying and driving the adoption of digital technologies across the company. Previously, Topkoç held the position as Managing Director for the SAP Gulf Region where he led a massive double-digit growth strategy across those markets for three consecutive years and was selected as the best-growth geography in EMEA in 2015 and 2017. Prior to that he had held several key leadership positions at HP across Turkey and the Middle East, including Regional Director for Software and Solutions in the Middle East, Country Manager for Software & Solutions at HP Turkey and Industries Director for Telecom, Energy, Manufacturing in Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

Topkoç holds an Executive MBA degree from Koç Üniversitesi in Istanbul, a M.Sc. in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, as well as a B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.