Zafer BENLİ

Director General and Chairman of the Board – Electricity Generation Company (Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. – EÜAŞ)

Zafer Benli was born in Sivas in 1968. He graduated from Gazi University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration in 1992.

He began his career in public service in 1994 at the Prime Ministry State Personnel Presidency, where he worked as an Assistant Expert. In 1997, he completed a thesis titled “The Organization and Functions of the Central Administration in Türkiye” which offered a new administrative model within the broader framework of public sector reform. He was subsequently appointed as a State Personnel Expert.

In 2002, he joined the Public Procurement Authority, taking a leading role in setting up the institution’s human resources structure, internal organization, and secondary legislation framework. Later that year, he was appointed as a Public Procurement Expert. He completed professional development programs on procurement systems at the University of Nottingham in 2004 and in Italy in 2006, with a focus on European Union procedures. During his time at the Authority, he reviewed and finalized more than 400 procurement-related complaints.

On September 27, 2007, Benli was appointed as Advisor to the Minister at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. A year later, he became Deputy Undersecretary and in 2015, served as Acting Undersecretary. He continues to serve in the Ministry as Deputy Undersecretary.

Board Memberships and Leadership Roles

Throughout his career, Zafer Benli has served in key governance roles at major public institutions in Türkiye:

• Board Member, Soma Electricity Generation Inc. (Soma Elektrik Üretim A.Ş.) – 2009–2011

• Board Member, Electricity Generation Company (Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. – EÜAŞ) – 2011–2017

• Board Member, Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (Türkiye Taşkömürü Kurumu – TTK) – 2017–2023

• Board Member, Eti Maden Operations (Eti Maden İşletmeleri Genel Müdürlüğü) – 2023–2024

• Board Member, World Energy Council Turkey (Dünya Enerji Konseyi Türkiye) – 2023–2024

• Chairman of the Board, Coal Enterprises Inc. (Kömür İşletmeleri A.Ş. – KİAŞ) – 2017–2025

Current Responsibilities

He currently holds a number of high-level national and international roles:

• Chairman of the Board, Turkish Electricity Industry Association (Türkiye Elektrik Sanayi Birliği – TESAB) – 2023–present

• Board Member, Eurelectric – The Union of the Electricity Industry in Europe – 2023–present

• Board Member, CIGRE – International Council on Large Electric Systems – 2023–present

• Term President, CIGRE South-East Europe Regional Council – 2023

• National Committee Chair, CIGRE Turkey – 2023–present

• Chairman of the Board, Union of Turkish State-Owned Enterprises (Türk Kamu İşletmeleri Birliği – TKİB) – 2023–present

• Chairman of the Board, Türkiye Nuclear Energy Inc. (Türkiye Nükleer Enerji A.Ş.) – 2024–present

• Chairman of the Board, MTA International Mining Inc. – Tashkent Mining – 2025–present

On July 18, 2023, Zafer Benli was appointed as Director General and Chairman of the Board of Electricity Generation Company (EÜAŞ), the largest electricity generation company in Türkiye. He is married and has three children.