Tijen Karatas is a consultant in our thriving governance practice. An experienced project manager, facilitator and educator, Tijen brings 10 years of international expertise in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in operations, communications, training, strategic planning and resource management. She undertakes essential research, report writing assignments and draws on her international experience working in management and with Boards to provide strategic advice and quality services to Renaud Foster clients. Her work includes the customization, development and facilitation of Renaud Foster governance workshops, seminars and courses, as well as the organization of special events. She also contributes to the nurturing and expansion of our client, CEO and Women's Networks.

Prior to joining Renaud Foster, Tijen was Development Manager for Young Enterprise in the UK, a not-for-profit organization promoting the skills of entrepreneurship and coordinating the provision of enterprise education for over 20,000 students in the north-east of England. She was responsible for mentoring staff, devising a new regional and local work strategy, designing and delivering programs and she effected policy change in her management role. Subsequently responsible for policy implementation, she regularly participated in Board meetings at the local and regional levels.

Tijen has lived and worked in the UK, Australia, Turkey and Spain. While in Madrid, Tijen worked exclusively with Directors at the Bank of Spain providing customized language instruction. More recently she was based in Istanbul for 3 years where she delivered specialized language training to multinational corporations, and established, maintained and contributed to the locally recognized International House language resource centre. Her talent as a facilitator and creativity as a language teacher were highly commended by International House, leading to the use of her observed language classes as professional development video-training tools, and she largely influenced curriculum development. Recognition by International House further resulted in an invitation to deliver development workshops with her original materials to fellow senior teachers and to newly qualified teachers.

Tijen completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in European Languages, Politics and Business at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK. She received a Distinction in Oral Spanish following a year spent at the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain and she is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree. In addition to excellent communication skills in her native English, Tijen is fluent in Spanish, Turkish and French. Tijen has a long history of volunteer work in her local communities and is a keen traveller, photographer, writer and musician.