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Ferda Gelegen
ADVANCEMENT COUNCIL MEMBER

Ferda Gelegen

Deputy Head
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Tokyo, Japan

Ferda is an international civil servant with experience in assisting developing and emerging countries mitigate poverty and foster sustainable economic and industrial development, through private sector engagement and impact driven investment projects.

A native of Turkey, Ferda studied business administration and economics at The George Washington University and subsequently started his career in 1983 as a corporate accountant at Aydin Corporation in Horsham, PA, and later was an entrepreneur and consultant in Washington, D.C. From 1991-1994 he worked as an economic advisor at the Foreign Economic Relations Board in Istanbul, focusing on bilateral ties between leading Turkish corporations and their US counterparts, in cooperation with the US Chamber of Commerce, and also Japanese counterparts, in cooperation with the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren). He joined the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Tokyo, Japan in 1995, where he currently serves as Deputy Head in charge of investment promotion and operations, a post he has held since 2012. Prior to that he managed various investment promotion projects in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and also in India, Pakistan and Turkey. 

Ferda is fluent in Turkish, English and French, and conversational in Japanese. Based in Tokyo, he is a member of the International House of Japan, the Japan-Turkey Society, and also serves on the board of the Japan-Oman Club.