WE Soda's Management Team

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.

Bob Katsiouleris

Chief Commercial Officer

Bob Katsiouleris joins WE Soda with over 30 years of commercial and operational management experience in industrial minerals and metals, having held senior commercial leadership roles with Rio Tinto, Vale and Rusal.

In his new role, Bob will oversee the Group’s integrated commercial operations, across sales, marketing and logistics, to capitalise on the sustainability advantages of natural soda ash and the reliability of the Group’s global supply chain, to position WE Soda as the supplier of choice for soda ash globally.

Dr Alan Knight OBE

Chief Sustainability Officer

Alan joins WE Soda with over 30 years of sustainability leadership experience across a wide variety of industries and supply chains, including renewable power, steel, brewing, transport and home improvement retail, having held senior sustainability leadership roles at Drax Group, ArcelorMittal, Virgin Group, SABMiller and B&Q/Kingfisher.

Alongside his executive roles, Alan has also held a variety of Board-level sustainability advisory positions at key NGOs and other charitable organisations.

In his new role, Alan will build on WE Soda’s existing sustainability leadership, to drive further sustainability initiatives that underpin the Group’s strategy.

Dr Mahmut Kursun

Vice President Logistics

Dr Mahmut Kursun has served as Vice President of Logistics since 2019. Dr Kursun is also Chairman of Denmar and board member of Eti Soda and Kazan Soda.

Dr Kursun has been working within the Ciner Group for more than 26 years in senior leadership positions across finance, information technology and logistics.

Dr Kursun holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an MSc and PhD in Industrial Engineering from Bosphorus University.

Oğuz Erkan

CEO of US Operations

Oğuz Erkan serves as the CEO of the Group’s operations in the United States.

Mr Erkan previously served as President and CEO of Şişecam Chemicals Resources from 2019 until April 2022 and previously as Director of International Operations & Coordination at Ciner Enterprises, Inc. from 2015 to 2019.

During 2015, Mr Erkan served as a director for the Ciner Group in London, UK and from 2012 until 2015 as General Manager for Kasimpasa AS, a subsidiary of the Ciner Group, having previously served as Project Director for Middle East and North Africa within the Ciner Group from 2009 to 2012.

Mr Erkan holds two BA degrees in Marketing and in International Business from Northwest Missouri State University.

Ali Çetinbulut

Chief Information Officer

Ali Çetinbulut was appointed as CIO of the Group in July 2023.

Mr Çetinbulut has almost 20 years of IT leadership experience in the US, Denmark and Türkiye. He has previously held CIO roles and led digital transformation projects at Orhan Holding, Lactalis and Anadolu Birlik Holding after eight years at Microsoft in engineering management and software development roles.

Mr Çetinbulut holds a BSc in Computer Engineering from Middle East Technical University.

Mehmet Unver

General Manager Kazan Soda

Mehmet Unver has served as the General Manager of Kazan Soda since February 2023, having previously served as Vice General Manager of Kazan Soda since 2018.

Mr Unver joined the Group in 2005 and has previously held various technical and operational positions at Eti Soda.

Mr Unver holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Middle East Technical University.

Nazif Akay

General Manager Eti Soda

Nazif Akay has served as the General Manager of Eti Soda since February 2023, having previously served as Vice General Manager of Eti Soda since 2018.

Mr Akay joined the Group in 2008 and has previously held various technical and operational positions at Eti Soda.

Mr Akay holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Gazi University.