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Kıraç, Can

Kıraç, Can (b. May 22, 1927, Ankara), director and businessman. In addition to serving in other roles at Koç Holding he was a member of the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV) Board of Directors between 1987 and 1993.

Kıraç spent his childhood in Eskişehir, graduating from the Galatasaray High School in 1946 and the Agriculture Faculty of Ankara University in 1950. From 1949 to 1950, he was the president of the Turkish National Student Federation. On August 29, 1950, he began working with Bernar Nahum at the Automobile Branch of Koç Ticaret AŞ in Ankara. In 1957, he was appointed vice manager of the Egemak company in Izmir, where Vehbi Koç was a partner; in 1958 he became company manager. Kıraç became one of the founding partners of Koç Holding in 1963, and in 1968 he returned to Istanbul to work at the holding’s Automotive Group.
 Kıraç was appointed to the Koç Holding Executive Committee in 1973, and in 1982 was made the head of the Automotive Group. In 1984, he became a member of the holding’s managing committee, becoming chair in 1987. Kıraç served on the Koç University Executive Committee and Board of Trustees, which was formed by the VKV on the foundation of Koç University. At the end of 1991, he retired by his own request, ending his 41-year career with the Koç Group.
 
Kıraç, who published books titled Anılarımla Patronum Vehbi Koç (Memories of My Boss, Vehbi Koç; 1995), Anılar Olaylar (Memories and Happenings; 2004) and Kolajlı Taşlamalar (A Collage of Satire; 2004), was in 2006 elected as an honorary member of the Turkish Society of Journalists. In 2013, Eskişehir Osmangazi University gave him an honorary doctorate. Mehmet Gündem published two books on Kıraç—Can Kıraç Antika Adam (Can Kıraç the Old Boy) and Can Kıraç Eldivensiz Adam (Can Kıraç Bare-Knuckled)—in 2017.

Abadan Unat, Nermin

Political scientist who received the Vehbi Koç Award for education in 2012.

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