Our Board

Didem Ciner

Chair

Didem Ciner has served as the Chair of the Board, and as a Non-executive Director since March 2024. She was previously a Director of the Company between 6 November 2018 and 1 February 2022, and from 23 March 2022 until 1 April 2023 and has been a Director of Kew Soda Ltd since 6 November 2018 and Chair since June 2022.

In addition to her role as Chair, Mrs Ciner was appointed as Chair and board member of Ciner Glass, the container glass operations of the Ciner Group, in 2019 to lead the expansion of the company’s operations in the UK, Belgium and Türkiye.

Mrs Ciner has significant experience following a number of senior roles across the wider Ciner Group, one of Türkiye’s leading industrial groups with interests in the mining, energy, glass, chemicals, media, and maritime sectors. Mrs Ciner is also the President of Ciner Media Group, where she is responsible for managing its three national TV channels and its most frequently visited news websites.

In addition to overseeing the development of Ciner Media into one of Türkiye’s leading independent media and publishing groups, Mrs Ciner was responsible for launching Bloomberg HT, a joint venture with Bloomberg Television and Türkiye’s only business-focused television channel, and the acquisition of Show TV, one of Türkiye’s most popular entertainment channels.

Mrs Ciner is married to Mr Turgay Ciner, the Principal Shareholder. Mrs Ciner holds a BA in International Relations from Koç University, Istanbul and an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.

Alasdair Warren

Chief Executive Officer

Alasdair Warren has served as a Director of the Company since 8 January 2019, as a Director of Kew Soda Ltd since 18 May 2022 and as Group Chief Executive Officer since 1 November 2019.

Prior to joining WE Soda, Mr Warren served as the Head of Corporate and Investment Banking for the European, Middle East and Africa region at Deutsche Bank, based in London.

Prior to that, Mr Warren was an investment banking Partner at Goldman Sachs in London for 11 years, serving in a number of roles, including the Global Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage, the Head of European Equity Capital Markets and Derivatives, and the Co Head of UK Investment Banking.

Mr Warren holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Nottingham.

Ahmet Tohma

Chief Financial Officer

Ahmet Tohma has served as a Director of the Company since 25 January 2022, as a Director of Kew Soda Ltd since 18 May 2022 and as Group CFO since 1 March 2022.

He joined WE Soda from Şişecam Chemicals Resources, where he previously served as the CFO of our former US soda ash business through the NYSE listed company Şişecam Resources LP and its US affiliates, prior to the sale of a controlling interest to Şişecam in December 2021. Mr Tohma also served as the Chief Financial Officer of our US subsidiary company, Ciner Enterprises Inc., and as Finance Director at the Ciner Group.

From 2003 until August 2019, Mr Tohma worked in various management roles at Türkiye Garanti Bankasi in Türkiye across corporate finance, internal audit and project financing.

Mr Tohma holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering from the Middle East Technical University.

Mehmet Ali Erdogan

Chief Legal Officer | London, UK

Mehmet Ali Erdogan has served as a Director of the Company since 6 July 2016 and Kew Soda Ltd since 1 July 2016 and as Chief Legal Officer within the Group since 1 January 2019.

Mr Erdogan has considerable experience in both the commercial and corporate law sectors, specialising in energy and infrastructure law, property law, financial restructuring and cross-border transactions.

Mr Erdogan holds a BA in Law from the University of Istanbul and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from Goldsmiths College, London. He has completed the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, London and he also holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Westminster.

Nicholas Hall

Chief Strategy & Risk Officer

Nicholas Hall has served as Chief Strategy & Risk Officer since 6 March 2023 and as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024 and Kew Soda Ltd since 19 April 2023.

Prior to joining the Group, Mr Hall served as a Managing Director at JP Morgan Cazenove based in London. Mr Hall was employed at JP Morgan Cazenove for 27 years, serving in a number of roles including as senior client executive within the UK Investment Bank and the head of UK Equity Capital Markets.

Mr Hall holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Exeter.

Rosalind Kainyah

Independent Non-Executive Director

Rosalind Kainyah has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024 and was a Director of Kew Soda Ltd from 8 February 2023 until 28 March 2024.

Ms Kainyah has 30 years of combined legal, operational, executive and Board experience, having started her career as an independent environmental law and policy consultant and then subsequently as a lawyer in the corporate and environment teams at Linklaters LLP.

She is a non-executive director currently serving on a number of boards across a range of industries and chairing sustainability committees. In previous board roles, she has also chaired remuneration, governance and nominations committees.

As an executive, Ms Kainyah served as director of external relations at De Beers UK Limited from 2004 to 2006, before being appointed as president of the De Beers Group Inc., USA from 2006 to 2009. From 2009 to 2013 she served as vice president of external affairs and corporate social responsibility at Tullow Oil Plc.

Ms Kainyah holds a BA in English from the University of Ghana, an LLB (Hons) from the University of London and an LLM from University College London and is a member of the Bar of England and Wales.

Harry Kenyon-Slaney

Senior Independent Director

Harry Kenyon-Slaney has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024 and was a Director of Kew Soda Ltd from 8 February 2023 until 28 March 2024. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company supporting its transformation services.

Mr Kenyon-Slaney served in a number of senior executive roles for Rio Tinto Plc from 1990 to 2015, having previously held an executive position at Anglo American Plc between 1984 and 1990. Notably Mr Kenyon-Slaney served on the Executive Committee of Rio Tinto Plc from 2009 to 2015 in his capacity as the Divisional CEO of the Diamonds and Minerals Products Group from 2009 to 2012 and as the Divisional CEO of the Energy Products Group from 2012 to 2015.

Having completed the successful divestment of the Energy Products Group in 2015, he assumed chair and non-executive director positions at a number of natural resources and industrial manufacturing companies. He has had a broad career which has stretched across natural resources, energy, industrial minerals, manufacturing and logistics as well as extensive experience of complex stakeholder management in Africa, Japan, India, North America and Australia.

Mr Kenyon‑Slaney holds a BSc in Geology from Southampton University and completed the International Executive Programme at INSEAD, France.

Sir Peter Westmacott

Independent Non-Executive Director

Sir Peter Westmacott has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024, having previously served as a Director from 1 January 2019 until 8 February 2023. He was also a Director of Kew Soda Ltd from 8 February 2023 until 28 March 2024.

He has had an extensive diplomatic career spanning 43 years across several continents, including four years in Iran before the 1979 revolution and a secondment to the European Commission in Brussels.

Sir Peter has undertaken numerous roles including Deputy Private Secretary to HRH The Prince of Wales between 1990 and 1993, Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Director for the Americas between 1997 and 2000, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for the Wider World from 2000 to 2001. He was British Ambassador to Türkiye, France and the US from 2002 to 2006, 2007 to 2012 and 2012 to 2016, respectively.

After a semester as a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Sir Peter took up a number of corporate roles in the UK including independent non-executive at Ernst & Young and non-executive director at Ciner Glass Ltd, Glasswall Holdings, and Volex Ltd.

He is a Distinguished Ambassadorial Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a Senior Adviser to Chatham House. He was Chairman of the International advisory board of Tikehau Capital from 2019-22 and chair of Tikehau Capital UK from 2022-24.

Sir Peter holds an MA in European History and French from the University of Oxford and is the author of “They Call it Diplomacy”, published in 2021.

Ergun Ozen

Independent Non-Executive Director

Ergun Ozen has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024, having previously served as a Director from 1 January 2019 until 8 February 2023.

He was also a Director of Kew Soda Ltd from 8 February 2023 until 28 March 2024. He has over 30 years of experience in banking and business administration, having previously served for 16 years as the CEO and President of Türkiye Garanti Bankasi, from 2000 until 2016, before retiring from this role and becoming a non-executive member of the board at Garanti Bank.

He started his career at Türkiye Is Bankası in 1987, before joining Garanti Bank in 1993, serving in various treasury and investment banking roles. Mr Ozen holds a BA in Economics from Stony Brook University.

Samantha Hoe-Richardson

Independent Non-Executive Director

Samantha Hoe-Richardson has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024 and a Director of Kew Soda Ltd from 8 February 2023 until 28 March 2024.

She is also a non-executive director of Assured Guaranty UK Ltd, Ascot Underwriting Ltd, Cornish Metals Inc, and an adviser on Climate Change and Sustainability to the board of Laing O’Rourke, having previously served on the board of Lancashire Holdings Limited for nine years, becoming the chair of its audit committee.

As an executive, Ms Hoe-Richardson was Head of Environment & Sustainability for Network Rail and prior to this spent 16 years with Anglo American plc in a variety of strategic roles including Head of Environment and as a director and founder of Anglo American Zimele Green Fund (Pty) Ltd, which supports green entrepreneurs in South Africa.

Prior to her roles with Anglo American, Ms Hoe-Richardson worked in investment banking and within audit. She holds an MA in Nuclear and Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and has a Chartered Accountancy qualification.

Gürsel Usta

Non-Executive Director

Gürsel Usta has served as a Director of the Company since 28 March 2024, having previously served as a Director of WE Soda Ltd from 1 January 2019 until 1 April 2023. He has also served as a Director of Kew Soda since 18 May 2022.

Since January 2023, Mr Usta has served as the chairman of Park Holding, one of the main holding companies of the Ciner Group, where he previously served as vice-chairman from January 2016 to January 2023. At the same time, Mr Usta acted also as the chairman of Akkan Enerji ve Madencilik A.S.

In addition, since March 2015, Mr Usta has served as chief executive officer of Ciner Glass & Chemicals. Mr Usta has previously held various leadership roles within the Ciner Group, including his position as chief executive officer of Ciner Energy & Mining, chairman of the board of directors of Ciner Media, and chief executive officer of Ciner Aviation and Tourism.

Mr Usta holds a BA in Economics and Finance from the Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University.

Jeremy Small

Company Secretary

Jeremy Small has served as Company Secretary since May 2023, having joined the Group in March 2023.

He previously held senior company secretarial roles at AXA, the BOC Group and Forte. He has a wide ranging technical, commercial and international background with extensive experience in governance, regulation and company law across the financial services, manufacturing and services industries.

Mr Small holds a BSc in Geography from the University of Liverpool and completed the Global Leadership Programme at INSEAD, France. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.