Kemal Kaya is a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone Advisory Partners LP. Based in Turkey, Mr. Kaya focuses on developing business initiatives and advising Blackstone on potential transactions as well as helping to identify potential advisory opportunities in the region. Mr. Kaya is also a Member of the International Advisory Board.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Kaya was the CEO of Yapi Kredi Bank, one of the leading financial groups in Turkey. He assumed this position after leading Turkey’s first privately owned bank merger, the combination of Yapi Kredi Bank and Kocbank. It is to date the biggest merger in the history of the Turkish banking sector. Before the merger of two banks, Mr. Kaya served as General Manager of Kocbank and CEO of Koc Financial Services, a financial holding company owned by Koc Holding, Turkey’s leading industrial group, and UniCredit. Mr. Kaya played a leading role in the formation of the Koc Holding -UniCredit partnership in 2002, the first foreign partnership established in the financial sector in Turkey. Earlier in his career, he also held various senior positions in financial institutions and investor relations management with Yapi Kredi Bank.

Mr. Kaya was educated in the United States and received his BS in Business Administration from the University of Kansas.