TurkofAmerica

TurkofAmerica has announced the honorees for its TOA Awards 2026, naming 100 Turkish Americans across 24 categories and scheduling the awards gala for November 17, 2026, at The Venetian in Garfield, New Jersey. The recognition program includes people working in science, medicine, technology, business, public administration, nonprofit leadership, law enforcement, finance, hospitality, sports, media, and the arts.

According to TurkofAmerica, the final list followed a process lasting more than six months. The publication says candidates were evaluated by a 23-member jury and a 16-member Selection Committee, with the number of honorees in each field determined by the candidate pool, jury evaluations, and overall results. The announcement identifies 100 honorees in total, while separately listing additional TOA Founders’ Recognition Awards.

The awards are a private recognition program, not an official government ranking. TurkofAmerica specifically notes that the numbers next to honorees’ names are used for organization and sequencing, rather than to indicate relative importance. That distinction matters because the published list brings together people from very different professional settings and stages of life, from Nobel laureates and university faculty to founders, public servants, medical executives, community leaders, and early-career professionals.

A wide record of achievement

The announcement presents science, research, and academia as one of the strongest parts of the 2026 list. Aziz Sancar, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is named in the lifetime achievement category. Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoğlu is listed among the honorees in science, research, and academia, alongside Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, Dani Rodrik, Canan Dağdeviren, Aydoğan Özcan, Mehmet Toner, İvet Bahar, Feryal Özel, Ali Erdemir, Asuman Özdağlar, Bilge Yıldız, Murat Günel, Engin Kırda, and Selçuk Şirin.

The academic names encompass a wide span of disciplines. The source lists researchers and educators associated with institutions including MIT, UCLA, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Columbia University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, Yale School of Medicine, Northeastern University, and NYU Steinhardt. Their fields include biochemistry, economics, engineering, bioengineering, surgery, computational biology, physics, neuroscience, computer science, and applied psychology. The range shows the visibility of Turkish-American scholars across research institutions in the United States.

Entrepreneurship and corporate leadership are also central to the announcement. In the CEO and founders category, TurkofAmerica names Fatih Özmen of Sierra Nevada Corporation, Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Eren Özmen of Sierra Nevada Corporation, Eren Bali of Monogram and the founder of Udemy and Carbon Health, Osman Kibar of Biosplice Therapeutics, investor Magdalena Yeşil, Oğuzhan Atay of BillionToOne, Murat Özgener, and Aydın Şenkut of Felicis. The business and entrepreneurship category adds founders and executives from technology, consumer products, life sciences, investment, and supply-chain fields.

Public service and community leadership

The 2026 selections also give substantial space to civic and public-facing work. TurkofAmerica lists Dr. Mehmet Öz, Tayfun Selen, Didem Nişancı, and Seval Öz in policy, government, and public administration. In community leadership, the honorees are Hülya Koç, president and co-founder of Empowering the Turkish-American Community; Hüseyin Bayram, former deputy mayor of Paterson; and Vega Sankur, founding president of the Atatürk Cultural Center in Los Angeles and former president of the Association of Turkish Americans of Southern California.

Law enforcement is represented by Yakup Zoklu, chief of police of the Cliffside Park Police Department, and Yeşim Karaman, director of government affairs at the National Sheriffs’ Association. The list’s inclusion of local government, public administration, community organizations, and law-enforcement leadership gives the recognition program a civic dimension beyond commercial or academic achievement. It also reflects the different ways Turkish Americans participate in public institutions and neighborhood life across the country.

Nonprofit and humanitarian work receive their own category. Mehmet L. Kırdar, chairman emeritus of Turkish Philanthropy Funds, and Halil İbrahim Demir, founder of Zakat Foundation of America, are named in nonprofit and philanthropy leadership. TurkofAmerica also announced TOA Founders’ Recognition Awards outside the jury-selected Top 100. Ali Rıza Doğan is listed for humanitarian service and community compassion, while Levent Sertbas is recognized for community service. Other special recognitions include international academic excellence, technology entrepreneurship, industrial leadership, hospitality, journalism, and sports coaching.

Technology, healthcare, and emerging leaders

Technology and healthcare feature prominently across several categories. Dr. Selda Günsel, Tolga Kurtoğlu, and Murat Genç are listed in the CTO and CIO category. Aylin Uysal, Egemen Taş, and Hande Çilingir are named in technology and futures. TurkofAmerica lists Kemal Erkan and Arda Ural in healthcare and medicine. This mix includes corporate technology leaders, founders, health-policy executives, and specialists whose work connects technical innovation with the health sector.

The publication also places younger professionals within the same overall account of leadership. Ali Sarılgan, Anya Özmen, Lara Özkan, and Emre Uğurlu are the four honorees in the under-30 category. TurkofAmerica says that category is intended to recognize and encourage the next generation of accomplished Turkish Americans. The selection links emerging figures in entrepreneurship, research, and security governance with an older generation of scientists, entrepreneurs, and public leaders already established in their fields.

Women’s leadership appears across the full list and is also recognized in a dedicated women in business category. Derya Taşkın, Neslihan Hıdırliğil, and Kerime Ataker are named there. The broader list also includes women in science, technology, public administration, entrepreneurship, finance, law enforcement, hospitality, research, and community leadership. The program’s structure places professional achievement and public contribution at the center of each category rather than treating one career route as the sole measure of influence.

The November gathering in Garfield

The TOA Awards Gala 2026 is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time at The Venetian in Garfield, New Jersey. The official ticketing page describes a program with a red-carpet reception, dinner, and awards ceremony. It says the event is expected to bring together nearly 500 guests from business, science, technology, academia, arts, media, and public service.

TurkofAmerica founder Cemil Özyurt said in the announcement that the project is intended to document achievements across the Turkish-American community and pass those success stories to future generations. He also emphasized that many accomplished people could not be included in the final 100, and that the program’s aim is not to claim that one person is more valuable than another. The source presents the list as a broad effort to make varied Turkish-American contributions more visible.

The announced roster makes the November event a meeting point for people whose work reaches far beyond a single profession or city. From medical research and engineering to entrepreneurship, local public service, philanthropy, hospitality, media, and athletics, the list offers a current snapshot of Turkish-American accomplishment in the United States. More information about gala tickets is available through the official TOA Awards ticket page, and TurkofAmerica lists 201-250-4376 for sponsorship, corporate participation, and table-reservation inquiries.