Iltem Dokurlar took on his role with Yildirim Holding in May 2016, prior to which he worked at the Borsa Istanbul as the general counsel. His time here coincided with the Turkish Stock Exchange transforming from the then İMKB into its current iteration of Borsa Istanbul, and Dokurlar had a significant part to play in this, as he elaborates: ‘This transformation – naturally – involved extensive legal work-streams, spanning from the corporate identity transformation to the vertical and horizontal integration of the Turkish stock exchange industry. I took the lead for in-house counselling of the Borsa Istanbul – Nasdaq deal which was unprecedented for both parties in terms of its nature and scope’. Dokurlar goes into how it is often challenges which are not anticipated that provide the biggest learning experience: ‘It is through unprecedented deals that you practice the art of thinking outside the box. At first, an unprecedented deal could look like trouble but there is huge space for creativity and good team work in such projects; these are the basic ingredients of leadership in to my experience’. Dokurlar also details the innovations he has made to Yildirim Holding’s legal function in terms of internal reporting: ‘One of the very first initiatives that I undertook was to unify and take under supervision of the legal department, the printed document flow to the shareholders, board members and C-suite. It is through our control over the document flow that we are now able to oversee first of all if the relevant matters are being properly submitted for opinion and secondly if the opinions are followed duly’. With demonstrable business acumen to compliment his legal nous, Dokurlar is perfectly placed to assist Yildirim pursue opportunities around the globe for growth on a continuous basis.