Burcu Karaca Uğural, PhD
Co-Founder, CEO & Technology Lead
Burcu has 15+ years of research expertise in natural fiber composites and textile structures. Her Ph.D. studies on the aligned flax fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite materials are the point of origin for BPREG. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers - The Circular Economy Group. Burcu is also co-founder of an R&D Cooperative named Dongu (which means circular in Turkish) that leads the cultivation of flax & hemp in Turkey.
Mehmet Yigit
Partner, Production Lead
Mehmet has 15+ years of experience in the textile and machinery industry. Mehmet is a Textile Engineer having vast experience in leading textile-based product manufacturing. Under different managerial positions in five different textile companies, Mehmet experienced supplier management, value-chain building, contract management, purchasing, and production management.
Mehmet is a second-time entrepreneur; he is also the co-founder of Yimaksan, a producer of fiber metal cutting, Co2 laser, and Uv printing machines.
Erhan Sessizoglu
Co-Founder
Erhan has 15+ years of expertise in the automotive industry. He worked for FCA Turkey in different managerial positions and was World Class Manufacturing Executive between 2009 – 2016. Erhan has a wide experience in manufacturing and operations management. He is also VP of Fego Electric, an internationally operating SME in copper-based industrial products. Erhan holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Besides, he is a true ski-lover.
Erhan is currently supervising the composite production operations of BPREG in our factory in Bursa, Turkey.
Semih Erden
Partner, Business Development Lead
Semih has over 10+ years of experience in business development. Previously, Semih was Manager at Aegean Science Park Incubation Center. Under his leadership, startups generated $16mil. revenue between 2016-2020. After a passionate career in supporting early-stage startups, Semih joined BPREG to lead business development and growth activities.
He is a second-time entrepreneur, a certified Registered Technology Transfer Professional since 2018, and a Fender-lover.
Kutluhan Çiftçi, MBA
CPO
Kutluhan has 15+ years of expertise in Automotive industry. He has considerable experience in innovative and eco-friendly interiors and seat components development. Kutluhan managed international projects, large scale composite product design and engineering functions in Multinational corporations. Since 2019 he focuses on identifying finding and delivering best-in-class production technologies for BPREG. He is coaching and mentoring BPREG team to boost competitivity and innovativeness while executing industry regulations.
Zeynep Derece
Board Advisor
Zeynep is co-founder of Dongu Cooperative, an R&D cooperative BPREG has started which focuses on agricultural production of bast fibers (flax and hemp) in Turkey. Zeynep is building the value chain of BPREG from field to composite; securing the raw material quality of our composites. She has a permaculture farm where she gained vast expertise in cultivation and sustainable agriculture. Zeynep holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering.
Henri Perrin Ph.D.
Board Advisor
Henri Perrin holds a Ph.D. in process engineering from the Arts et Metiers Paris-Tech. Henri has vast experience in composite manufacturing technologies, especially thermoplastics. Since 2017, he develops at The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST); he is currently the Composite Platform leader.
Tansu Kıreker
Partner, Operations Lead
Tansu has 15+ years of experience in the textiles industry. Since 2009, he has been experiencing different operations in the textile industry under different hats such as knitting, dyehouse, sourcing, production, and planning. Tansu managed mid-size teams in international companies such as Puma, and DeFacto. His final position in the corporate world was DeFacto's Senior Buyer. He joined BPREG in 2022 to lead the value-chain development operations of BPREG.
Tansu is also a second-time entrepreneur. He was co-founder of Treateks, a fast-fashion textile company. Tansu holds a bachelor’s degree in Textile Engineering.
BPREG Partners
We work collaboratively with sustainability-focused companies and research institutions from all over the world.
Join us in winding your business into a sustainable future; drop us a line if you are interested in testing our natural-fiber material solutions.
