Mr. Kızıl is the co-founder and managing partner of Taxim Capital and Astra Capital, both growth capital and growth buyout focused private equity funds. Prior to establishing Taxim Capital, he was the head of private equity division at Invest AD (Abu Dhabi Investment Company), the investment group owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, where he covered Turkey, Gulf region and North Africa. He established its Turkish private equity operations in 2008. He served as chairman, vice chairman and board director of various companies during his tenure. Before joining Invest AD, Mr. Kızıl worked for Goldman Sachs for 9 years in investment banking division in New York and London, where his latest role was executive director. While at Goldman Sachs, he worked on a long list of mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, financings, IPOs, and equity and debt transactions. Prior to his experience with Goldman Sachs, Mr. Kızıl worked for Coopers & Lybrand in Istanbul. He also comes from a family business environment where he was involved with operations. Mr. Kızıl received his BS in Economics from Middle East Technical University in Ankara and his MBA from Hough Graduate School of Business at University of Florida.