The President of One of the Largest Corporate Foundations

The foundation’s President is a Turkish professional: Esra Özer. Over the span of her career, Özer has held numerous communications and foundation positions.  Most recently, she was Assistant Secretary and Director, Ethics and Compliance Communications and Training.  As Assistant Secretary, she was responsible for managing support to the Alcoa Board of Directors and the activities of the board and its committees.  Previously, Özer was Director of Executive Communications, responsible for driving the communications activities of Alcoa’s Chairman and CEO, including speechwriting, thought leadership, stakeholder relationships and briefings, and executive communications.
 
Prior to joining Alcoa in 2008, Özer was Senior Director of External Relations at Siemens Corporation, where she led U.S. media relations and issues management.  She was instrumental in developing and leading programs that enabled the $20 billion U.S. subsidiary to build a stronger brand and reputation in the U.S. During her decade-long tenure at Siemens, Özer had diverse communications responsibilities, including managing programs to develop high potential Siemens U.S. employees; and internal and executive communications.  She served as project manager in the design and launch of an $11 million Disney sponsorship that became Siemens' largest integrated marketing initiative, which showcased the Company's technologies.  Özer began her Siemens career as Director of Communications for its non-profit Foundation, and launched its renowned national scholarship program - the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology – which is a pillar of Siemens' reputation in the U.S.
 
Özer is a graduate of the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and a sponsor of educational scholarships for students of Public Relations at the Newhouse School. She was named to the 2013-2014 class of David Rockefeller Fellows, a civic engagement program of the Partnership for New York City. She is the senior advisor to the Citymeals-on-Wheels Young Professionals Committee (New York City), and is the former Chair of the Associate Board of City Year New York. She was a Young Leader of the American Council on Germany (2007) and is Young Leader of the American Turkish Society. Özer also serves on the Global Steering Committee of the Alcoa Women's Network, and on Alcoa's Diversity and Inclusion Council.