Background
Dr. Erten acted as a bridge between NGOs, academia and private sector since she received her PhD. in 1994. As an AFS student at an age of 16, she spent a year in USA. Erten graduated from Boğaziçi University’s Civil Engineering Department and completed her graduate studies at Rutgers University in USA. She worked as a research fellow at Princeton University. She completed the Executive education in Leadership in Sustainability at Harvard University School of Public Health after spending 20 years in the sector. . While working as a licensed Civil Engineer for AECOM and BOVIS Lend Lease in Los Angeles, she lectured at USC. Upon her return from USA he worked as the director of Clinton Climate Initiative for Clinton Foundation as the implementation partner of C40. Erten is the co-founder of Turkish Green Building Council and served on the as the Board President and Vice President. She has been teaching on sustainability and NGO related courses at Koç, Sabancı and Boğaziçi Universities. She got elected as a Board member to serve on the USGBC Board.
Dr. Erten is the founding Vice President of Turkish Green Building Council and was responsible from the International Relations. She initiated the GREEN SCHOOLS program at TGBC by signing the green schools coalition agreement. She served on the LEED International Committee for 10 years and technical advisor to WGBC Committees. She served on ULI Europe Sustainability Council between 2016-2022.
She is the first professional from Turkey elected to serve on the board of US Green Building Council. She received the President’s Award given by World Green Building Council for her outstanding contributions to the global sustainability movement in 2012. In 2017 she received the WOMEN IN SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP -recognized as one of the 10 women who contributed to global sustainability movement.