Yıldırım, Erdal (b. April 26 1966, Rize), engineer and director. He has served as the president of the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV) since 1997.
After completing his secondary education at Kabataş High School, Istanbul (1981), Yıldırım studied mechanical engineering at Boğaziçi University (BU), graduating in 1987. He worked in the tourism sector (1987–91), before serving as secretary general of the BU Alumni Association (1991–97). He assumed his current position as president of the VKV in 1997. Yıldırım is also a member of the board of directors at the Suna & İnan Kıraç Foundation, TEMA and TÜSEV, and a member of the board of trustees at the Boğaziçi University Foundation and TEGV.
Yıldırım completed a master’s degree in philanthropy at Indiana University in 2005. In 2012, he published a book, Bana Yönetim Kurulunu Söyle, Sana Kim Olduğunu Söyleyeyim (Tell Me the Board of Directors and I’ll Tell You…), which is used as a resource for volunteers and professionals working in non–governmental organizations. After publishing the autobiographical work, Ateşin Üstünden Atladım (Jumping Over the Fire; 2016), he published Az mı Gittik, Uz mu Gittik? Yeni Vakıfların 50 Yıllık Hikâyesi (Have We Travelled Little, Have We Travelled Well? The 50 Year Story of New Foundations; 2017).