Board Members

LEVENT BESIK – President
Levent is originally from the beautiful city of Istanbul, and is a Senior Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft. He has been an active community member in Seattle; among many other volunteer activities, he has been the Films Manager on Turkfest Steering Committee in 2007 and 2008, and served on TACAWA board since 2009.

SEVKET NUMANOGLU - Vice President & Director of Events
Sevket is currently a manager at Boeing Company. He is a PMP (Project Management Professional) and a Mechanical Engineer with master degrees in Political Science and Engineering & Technology Management. In addition Sevket also completed several leadership and quality certifications (Lean Six Sigma and Black Belt). He is from Hopa, Turkey. He served as the President of TASCA (Turkish American Student Cultural Association) in Portland. His hobbies include soccer, running, and reading.

BERTAN AYGUN – Treasurer and Director of Membership
Bertan has been in Seattle since 2005 and works at Microsoft as a software development engineer. He has been a TACAWA board member as a Treasurer since 2009. He also served on the board of Turkish Student Association at University of Pennsylvania, where he got his masters and undergraduate degrees.

JEANENE MITCHELL – Secretary & Director of Community Outreach
Jeanene Mitchell is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington. Though originally from Tacoma, she considers Istanbul her other hometown! Her passion for Turkey began during her undergraduate studies in International Affairs at Georgetown University. Upon graduating from college in 2002, Jeanene was awarded a Fulbright fellowship for the study of international law and the regulation of maritime traffic in the Turkish Straits. She promptly moved to Istanbul, and lived there from 2002 to 2005, working as a research assistant at the Istanbul Bilgi University Marine Law Research Center. In 2005, Jeanene moved to New York City to pursue her master’s degree in energy policy at Columbia University. While at Columbia, she served as president of Turkish Initiative, a graduate student organization dedicated to promoting informed discussion of Turkey within the broader New York community. Upon returning home to Washington State in September 2009 to start her PhD, Jeanene was thrilled to find such a dynamic Turkish community here. She is honored to have the opportunity to serve that community as a member of the TACAWA board.

MERVE AKTAS - Social Chair
Merve is from the exotic city of Izmir, Turkey, and has been living in Washington for the majority of her life. She graduated cum laude status from the University of Washington, with concentrations in Finance and Marketing and is exploring for ways to follow her passion within those fields. Being a proud Turkish-American, Merve is pursuing ways to be more involved within the Turkish community. Her recent and main involvement is with the yearly Turkfest (Turkish Festival) and other activities with TACAWA. She hopes to work closely with the other board members to better unify the Turkish community here in the Northwest.

SELDA KEMENT - Board Member & Acting Secretary
Selda moved to Seattle from Istanbul in 2007 and started to get adjusted to the Pacific Northwest environment. She graduated with a masters degree in International Commerce and Trade, and in 2010, she established her telecommunication business in Seattle. She has been an active member of the Turkish American community since she has arrived in the U.S and has established her membership with the New York and California Turkish Community as well. She is also working for the City of Kirkland, Washington as a volunteer and helping them with the various volunteer projects.

GUNER FIRUZ - Auditor
He is from Kemaliye , Erzincan and he came to the USA in 1970 after graduating from Pertevniyal high school in Istanbul. He got electronics-computer engineering degree at Oregon State University , and masters degree in Control Systems at University of Wisconsin . He married Melissa in Madison WI and moved to Seattle in 1977. He got a job at Boeing Commercial Airplane Company in Flight Controls, designing automatic pilots. He has been part of the design team for the 737,747, 757, 767, 777, 787 airplanes.

His family and Guner have been active with TACAWA , since moving to Seattle. He has been on the board as a president, social chairman and auditor. His wife and he also danced in the TACAWA folklore group beginning in the 1980’s. When not on the board, he is an active supporter of TACAWA activities. He also volunteers in Boeing Good Neighbour Fund to help the needy in our communities.