our team

Dr Bulent Ender immigrated with his parents to Washington D.C. suburbs as a young child in 1970. After pursuing higher education in Richmond, Baltimore and Houston, he settled with his family in Raleigh, NC in 1993. Having practiced medicine for over 30 years, Bulent decided to retire early in 2021 to devote more time to his health, family, lifelong learning and philanthropy.

Bülent is an active member of the Turkish-American community in the Triangle area and is a founding member and the Chairman of the Board of Bridge to Turkiye Fund. He also manages BTF’s Endowment Fund, established with Board of Directors’ charitable contributions. Bulent lives in west Raleigh with his wife Deniz, and enjoys tennis, cycling, swimming and traveling.

Ela Eskinazi born in Ankara, Turkey is a graduate of TED High School and Middle East Technical University with B.Sc. In Management. She attained MBA degree at Purdue University in 2000. She has worked at GE Healthcare for 6 years at various leadership roles and she is certified black-belt. She moved to Charlotte NC in 2006. She has worked in Consumer Banking for the first 5 yrs of her bank tenure at Bank of America, and is currently working as Sales Performance Manager in Healthcare & Institutions Commercial Banking team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Ela is married, has 2 sons. She likes outdoor sports, and cycling and she does painting as a hobby. She has been member of BTF family since 2007 and been involved in different fund raising activities and events. She is a strong advocate of education as a way of liberating minds and societies, and especially women living in poverty.

Dr. Gül Bahtiyar was born in Erzurum, Turkey in 1974. After studying at Beşiktas Atatürk Anatolian High School, she earned her medical degree at Istanbul University, Cerrahpaşa Medical School and moved to the US in 1998 to pursue with her residency. She did research as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, completed her internal medicine residency at Tufts University and endocrinology fellowship and master of public health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. She holds a clinical associate professor of medicine degree at NYU Langone Medical Center and works at Woodhull Medical Center.

A daughter of an academic family, Gül is a firm believer in education, vision and gender equality. She is committed to creating opportunities and making differences in the lives of underprivileged and underserved girls and boys in Turkey. She has been actively involved at BTF since 2013 and feels privileged to be part of a community based on trust and compassion. She lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Michelle Deniz Drousé Woodhouse is a social entrepreneur, consultant, dancer and new mom currently living in Troy, Michigan. She has 15 years of experience managing organizations and projects focused on community development, urban design, innovation, women’s empowerment, and Middle Eastern dance in California, Michigan and the United Kingdom. She has a BA in Environmental Analysis and Design and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Irvine.

Michelle co-founded the Orange County Turkish American Association and served as the Chairman of the Board. She also served as Vice Chairman of the Association of Turkish Americans of Southern California and led the Orange County Multicultural Coalition. Michelle is married to David and they have a daughter Ava Elâ.

Şule was born in Samsun, Turkey. During her childhood years, her family relocated several times within rural Turkey as a result of her father’s work. It was during those years that she developed a keen sense of community values and the importance of education to build a better future.

After receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics at Middle East Technical University and a Teaching Certificate from Gazi University in 1993, Şule worked as a Physics teacher and a High School administrator in Ankara.  She relocated to the US in 1997 and now lives in Oak Park, IL with her husband Victor and son Lucas. She has a successful private tutoring practice in the Chicago area and works as an off-campus teacher with the Oak Park River Forest High School.  Şule is fluent in English, Spanish, and Turkish. When she is not busy at work, she enjoys running, yoga, scuba-diving, nature walking, traveling, reading, and photography. The early experiences developed during her childhood years stayed with her and became a moral compass throughout her life to pass on the gift of education to others who are less fortunate regardless of location.

Tuğba was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1982. She received her BSc. In Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University in 2005. She worked at various companies in Turkey as a Software Engineer for 6.5 years and moved to Seattle, WA with her family in 2011. Currently, she is working at Microsoft as a Software Engineer.

Having completed her education through scholarships, she believes that children and youth deserve equal opportunities to establish a better future. She volunteered in an EU project in Nevşehir when she was a university student and had the opportunity to take part in multicultural art and music workshops with elementary school students together with other participants from European Countries. After moving to the States and getting introduced to Bridge to Türkiye, she adopted and embraced its philosophy of giving back to enable and empower education. She joined BTF in 2015. She likes the harmony of working with like-minded volunteers for the same goal with a great team spirit. She is married and has a son. She likes social and cultural activities.

Vicdan grew up and went to school in Ankara. She earned her BA in American Culture and Literature in 1992, and MA in English Language and Literature in 1994, from Bilkent University. After working for 2 years as an English Instructor in the Faculty of Humanities and Letters at Bilkent, Vicdan moved to Austin, TX in 1996. There, she volunteered to teach English to Vietnamese refugees while working part-time for a research company. She moved to Charlotte from San Francisco Bay area in 2003, where she currently resides with her husband and daughter. She serves on the board of ATA-NC Charlotte since last year.

Vicdan met Bridge to Türkiye in 2004 and feels lucky to be working with such a dedicated group of people to help kids in Türkiye.