M. Sani Şener

Mr. Sani Şener is the co-founder of TAV Airports, which was established in 1997 with the Istanbul Atatürk Airport Build-Operate-Transfer project. Mr. Sani Şener served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the first 25 years and as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Board for the last two years. Today, TAV Airports serves approximately 100 million passengers at 15 airports in 8 countries and has become a global brand. Mr. Şener has led TAV Airports on this historic journey. 

As of 2024, he continues his career as the Chairman of the Executive Board of TAV Construction. 

Mr. Şener graduated from Ankara College in 1973 and graduated from Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 1977, Şener earned his Master’s degree (M. Phil) in fluid mechanics in 1979 from University of Sussex in the UK. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in engineering from KTU for “his invaluable contributions to the development of Turkish engineering at the international level”, as well as an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the New Hampshire University “ for his accomplishments in project and risk management throughout his tenure at TAV”. Prior to his career at TAV Airports, Şener served in various positions, from project manager to general manager, in national and international projects.

Prior to TAV Airports, he worked in many national and international projects in various roles ranging from project manager to general manager. He studied Complex Systems Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Şener served as a member of the Airports Council International (ACI) World Board of Directors and Chairman of the Turkey-France, Turkey-Croatia and Turkey-Kazakhstan Business Councils of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK). In 2016, Şener was awarded the Knight's Order of the Legion d'honneur by French President François Hollande for his contributions to the relations between the two countries. In the same year, Şener was also honored with the Order of Distinguished Service by the Georgian government, and in 2019, he was honored with the Order of Merit by the Government of North Macedonia.  The “business model” created at TAV Airports became a “case study” at Harvard University three times and was taught by Sani Şener to MBA students at Harvard Business School (HBS).

In the voting carried out by Thomson Extel among national and international finance corporations, he was chosen first in the category of “The Best CEO” in Turkey in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and third in the European Transport Sector in 2014.