Ex-PwC'er and Olympian Sedef Köktentürk joins Blue Horizon
Switzerland-based impact investor in the food sector Blue Horizon has named former PwC consultant Sedef Köktentürk as its Chief Operations Officer.
Appointed a Managing Partner and member of the executive team, Sedef Köktentürk has been made responsible for all operations of the firm, including client delivery, operations and technology. She brings over two decades of experience to the firm, gained in banking and consulting.
Köktentürk joins Blue Horizon from Genesis Investment Management, where she was an Associate Partner and a member of the Operations Executive Committee. She spent seven years with the ESG and sustainability investor group, having previously worked five years for investment bank Goldman Sachs across two tenures.
In between, Köktentürk chased her dream of competing at the Olympics. When Köktentürk broke her hand while training for the windsurfing event at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, she thought she would never have the opportunity to pursue that dream again. Instead, she decided on a career in financial advisory, joining PwC in New York to work in its corporate finance wing.
However, in 2006 she picked up her ambition to compete again, leaving Goldman Sachs to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. While Köktentürk narrowly missed out on automatic qualification, she received an invitation from the International Sailing Federation after the withdrawal of athletes from Belgium and Germany.
Welcoming her to the investment firm, Blue Horizon’s CEO Björn Witte said: “Sedef is an accomplished global leader in sustainable investing and impact management and is fully committed to our vision of bringing tasty, healthy and affordable food to everyone. With her extensive global network and diverse experience in asset management, she will be instrumental to the growth and development of our investment platform.”
Within the food sector, Blue Horizon specialises in the alternative protein sector. Its portfolio includes plant-based meat replacement producers such as Beyond Meat and No Meat, and vegetarian/vegan based food producers such as Plantable, Veestro and LoveRaw.