Levent Hatay

A professional career spanning 25 years in leading companies (Texas Instruments, American Airlines, Koç Holding, Aygaz, Altınyıldız, Rixos, Vestel, G2M) and across different sectors (airlines, textile production, textile marketing, electronics and white goods sales and marketing, food services and logistics).  Extensive education and experience in building systems utilizing operations research and systems optimization.  Implementing optimal decision support systems to run efficient operations to maximize profitability and reduce costs. Ten years of managing a widely distributed sales and marketing company with 1.000 stores and one of the ten most recognized brand names in Turkey.  Valuable experience in change-management and high-growth as the CEO of a leading food-services company.  Consulting since 2011 to leading companies in Turkey in the areas of marketing, operational excellence and change management.

Professional Experience

• Board Member – Tırsan Trailers, Ekol logistics, Simfer White Goods, Miranda Water Treatment, Pelsan Lighting, com
• CEO – G2M Food Services Company (10/2010 – 8/2011)
• Executive Committee Member – Vestel Group of Companies (04/2007–10/2010) and (9/2005-10/2006)
• CEO – Rixos Hotel Group (10/2006 – 03/2007)
• General Manager – Vestel Durable Goods Company (11/1999 – 8/2005)
• Director, Marketing & Operations – Altınyıldız (6/1996 – 11/1999)
• MIS Manager – Aygaz (1/1994 – 6/1996)
• Management Consultant – Koç Holding (1/1993 – 1/1994)
• Senior Consultant – American Airlines Decision Technologies (later Sabre) (1/1989 – 10/1992)
• Research Assistant – Southern Methodist University (1/1986 – 12/1988)
• Product Engineer – Texas Instruments (6/1984 – 12/1985)

Change Management Experience

• Grew G2M over 50 percent from 340 million TL to over 500 million TL in less than a year.
• Established a new “Business Transformation” plan for G2M that included over 100 new projects. Revised the overall organization of G2M and sales management structure.
• Merged the sales organization and the after sales service organization of Vestel to effectively manage

1.000 dealers and 400 service centers.

• Completely restructured Vestel Marketing Company’s organization and introduced operations management and reporting systems recognized by international auditors as “best-in-class” in Turkey.
• Merged electronics and white goods service centers of Vestel to increase customer satisfaction.
• Between 2000-2006, transformed the sales distribution system of Vestel from 8 wholesalers, 2.500 mixed dealers and 80 exclusive stores to 1.200 exclusive Vestel stores.
• Grew net revenues of the Vestel Marketing Company from 138 million USD in 2000 to 850 million USD in 2006 with full P/L responsibility.

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• Formed the Operations Group of Altınyıldız in 1996 that included production planning, IT, purchasing, inventory management and human resources.

Marketing Management Experience

• Conducted the re-branding of G2M brand (corporate and private label packaging).
• Designed a new pricing structure for G2M’s 10.000 products to improve gross margins.
• Introduced a clear strategy for distribution of Vestel Group’s different brands (Vestel, Regal, Seg, Telefunken and Whirlpool) across different channels.
• Improved the positioning of VESTEL brand in Turkey. According to the Nielsen top-of-mind brand awareness study, Vestel was the seventh most recognized brand in Turkey in 2006.  
• Launched the B2B2C Vestel website (first in the sector) to sell Vestel products directly to consumers through the dealer network.
• At Vestel, implemented a new IT infrastructure to track retail sales on-line and to make quick management and campaign decisions.
• At Vestel, managed the Turkish company and its 1.000 store network in one of the toughest periods for the sector against Far Eastern producers and Big-Box retailers and protected Vestel’s LCD market share leadership.
• Created REGAL brand by clearly defining a different distribution network, pricing system and branding. Grew Regal brand to over 8 percent market share in white goods sector against formidable brands. 
• Managed domestic sales, marketing, export marketing, and product development totaling 85 million US dollars per year at Altınyıldız.
• Introduced one of the first CRM (Database Marketing) efforts in Turkey and formed the customer database which included demographic and inventory information for over 450.000 Aygaz customers. One of the first implementors of one-to-one marketing with Don Peppers / Broadvision in Turkey.
• Managed one of the fastest growing e-commerce sites in Turkey from 100.000 members to 2.500.000 members in over one year with full search optimization and less marketing spend compared to its competitors.
• Established product management for Tırsan (Europe’s third largest trailer manufacturer) with the widest product range amongst all competitors. Helped to prepare a marketing plan and a new pricing approach while overseeing studies with Simon & Kuchner.
• At Ekol, helped in establishing the new pricing system that reduced empty kilometers drastically between Turkey and Europe (Ekol has the largest market share).
• At 1v1y.com, helped to write a crawler to track all competitor prices and made automatic pricing decisions. Used big data analytics to re-optimize user experience and total sales cycle from browsing to check-out.

Operations Management and Systems Experience

• At Vestel, restructured the transportation planning system (800 products and 1.200 locations across Turkey) utilizing Manugistics and Solvoyo optimizers and based on this model, closed warehouses in Adana, Ankara and Istanbul and moved to a single warehouse to optimize overall cost to the company.
• Implemented a planning module for yarn-dyeing operation to significantly increase on-time performance of the factory.
• Implemented a logistics distribution system at G2M with significant savings in transportation costs.
• Implemented warehouse manpower planning optimization at G2M with significant reduction in overtime.

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• At Aygaz, developed the production and distribution optimization model for 16 filling plants and 1.200 dealers for 900.000 tons of LPG per year where initial testing indicated logistics savings of at least 2 million USD per year.
• Coordinated and played a key role in the development of Long-Haul Crew-Scheduling System which solved a 100 million variable mathematical model to produced estimated cost savings of nearly 5 million USD per year for Federal Express.
• Helped in establishment planning optimization and purchasing optimization at Tırsan.
• Managed day-to-day operations of one of the leading internet private shopping websites in Turkey with over 500 brands, 30.000 products, and 5.000 shipments per day with the establishment of first ERP in Turkish e-commerce industry.
• For large scale e-commerce operations at 1v1y.com, re-designed standard ERP check-out process and established trans-shipment areas in warehousing to reduce total wait time for shipments.
• Helped to establish an optimization model for the complex route assignment problem utilizing trucks/trailers, RoRo ships and 3^rd party suppliers at Ekol. In warehousing, an efficiency project (BeePro) was re-implemented with improved efficiency of warehousing operations and cross-project utilization.
• At Altınyıldız, redesigned the planning process from yarn, dyeing, weaving to finishing to improve on-time performance of one of the largest wool textile factories in the world. A new optimization model was established to improve planning and shipment by thirty percent and to reduce yarn inventories significantly.

Educational Background

Doctor of Engineering (1986-1989), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

M.S. Operations Research (1986-1987), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

M.S. Engineering Management (1984-1986), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

B.S. Electrical Engineering (1980-1984), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

Richardson High School (1978-1980), Richardson, Texas

TED Ankara Koleji (1970-1978) Ankara, Turkey

Awards and Memberships

Board Member of RVD, Turkish Advertisers Association (2008 – 2010)

Board member of TBV, Turkish Information Systems Foundation (2006 – 2010)

Board Member of KALDER, Turkish Quality Association (2002-2008)

Member of TUSIAD, Turkish Industrialists and Businessman Association (2004 – 2010)

Member of SMU School Senate (1983-1984)

Member of the OMEGA RHO International Operations Research Honor Society Full Academic Scholarship – SMU – Operations Research (1986-1989)

Personal

Born on 23 December 1963.  Fluent in English and Turkish.  Married with two children (19 and 16). Non-smoker, excellent health.  Enjoy sports (tennis, swimming, weight conditioning and skiing). Avid reader of business management periodicals and self-improvement books.  Good follower and user of technology.