Sani Şener

Mr. Sani Şener, a founding partner of TAV Airports, which was established in 1997 with the Istanbul Atatürk Airport Build-Operate-Transfer project, served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during its first 25 years and as Vice Chairman of the Board during its last two years. Mr. Şener led TAV Airports throughout its historic journey, during which it became a global brand serving approximately 100 million passengers at 15 airports across 8 countries.

As of 2024, he continues his professional career as Chairman of the Board of TAV Construction.

He graduated from TED Ankara College in 1973. After graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Karadeniz Technical University (KTÜ) in 1977, Şener earned a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in Fluid Mechanics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom in 1979. In recognition of his contributions to the international development of Turkish engineering, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at KTÜ. He also received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the University of New Hampshire for his achievements in Project and Risk Management during his tenure at TAV.

Prior to TAV Airports, he held various positions ranging from Project Manager to General Manager in numerous national and international projects. He also completed executive education in Complex Systems Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Şener served as a Member of the World Governing Board of Airports Council International (ACI) and chaired the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) Turkey–France, Turkey–Croatia, and Turkey–Kazakhstan Business Councils. In recognition of his contributions to bilateral relations, he was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honour (Légion d'honneur) by French President François Hollande in 2016. In the same year, he was honored by the State of Georgia with the Order of Excellence, and in 2019 he was awarded the Order of Merit by the Government of North Macedonia. The “business model” developed at TAV Airports became a Harvard University case study on three occasions and was presented by Sani Şener as a lecture to MBA students at Harvard Business School (HBS).

In a survey conducted by Thomson Extel among domestic and international financial institutions, he was ranked first in Turkey in the Best CEO category in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and was ranked third in the European Transportation sector in 2014.