Niyazi Akdaş

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Niyazi Akdaş who was born on 1948 in İzmir-Turkey, had successfully completed his bachelor’s degree on Metallurgical Engineering at Middle East Technical University on 1970. He was admitted to University of California (UCLA) as a teaching assistant immediately after his graduation, where he successfully fulfilled the requirements of Master of Science in Material Science and Engineering. Consequently, in USA he worked as a senior research engineer in NASA and ARMY projects.
He founded Akdaş Casting Industry, where he is currently occupying the post of Chairman of the Board, on 1982. He created Akdaş from scratch, and developed it into a renowned steel foundry, with an annual capacity of 35.000 tons, that is exporting value added steel castings to all over Europe, America, Russia and Israel.
Mr. Akdaş was actively involved  in every high ranked voluntary position of the endowment-supported high school where he was educated when he was a teenager. He served 8 years (1997-2005) as a member in the Board of Directors, Vice President, and President in the said educational institution. He pioneered the establishment of an unprecedented campus, furnished with all the necessities of a modern education. Presently, over 6000 students, varying from 5 to 18 years of age, are enrolled in the institution.
He represented Turkish business sector several times at Euro-chamber and Balkan Chambers Association. He was assigned to Turkish Standards Institution (TSE) as the Vice President on 1999, where he successfully carried out this duty until 2002. During this voluntary position he had the chance to know EOQ (European Organization for Quality) . In EOQ's 2002 General Assembly he had been elected as the vice president of EOQ. He was deemed worthy of this post during his dedicated and recognized service as the vice president of TSE. He was re-elected as vice president of EOQ in 2004 and 2006 General Assemblies consecutively, and is still holding office in charge of restructuring and finance. In 2006 EOQ General Assembly, which took place at Antwerp, awarded Mr. Akdas with George Borel Medal and diploma (given to people who made valuable contributions to Quality Movement of Europe).
In 2006 together with his partners they establish a Swiss Company ITC, to carry out solid waste management practices. Today they provide service in 6 cities of Turkey and manage 10,500 tons of household waste and produce electricity out of it.
Currently, he is also trying to contribute to the foundry sector of Turkey as the president of the  (TUDOKSAD) Foundrymen’s Association of Turkey, and as the Chairman of Foundry Sectorial Assembly, which is established by Union of Chambers of Turkey.