About — Meltem Günyüzlü Ateş

Path

2022 — Present

Global marketing operations, British Council

Marketing Operations Director, Europe and Americas Hub: 14 person team.

Led AI adoption, transformation, enablement and governance strategies for marketing function. Head up the centralised campaign and MarTech operation across 60+ markets, 55 websites, 39 languages, 157 social channels, 68 ad accounts. Pioneered AI-enabled localisation system across 42 languages, with a 95% quality score and 14% cost saving, and AI-powered creative operations that cut production cost by 70% and time by 50%.

2011 — 2022

Country and regional leadership, British Council

Regional Marketing Lead, Wider Europe: 18 markets.

English Online launch (engagement up 150%, sales nearly doubled), and Study UK Virtual Fair (time-on-site doubled, bounce rate down 30 points, engagement up 12% year-on-year).

Marketing Director, Turkey: a five-person team.

IELTS positioned as market leader, paid marketing driving 20% of total sales, and brand awareness up 9%.

2004 — 2011

Agency leadership

Group Brand Director at McCann Erickson and MullenLowe. Brand work for Nestlé, Unilever, Ülker, MasterCard, and Coca-Cola. Strategic planning before that, with Algida, Beko, L'Oréal, Coca-Cola, MotoGP, and the Turkish Basketball League. Cross-sector exposure across FMCG, financial services, telco, and sports marketing.

Expertise & tools

Expertise

AI adoption and governance, go-to-market, MarTech adoption, digital campaigns orchestration, creative operations, and agency ecosystems.

AI and automation

Claude, Creatopy, HeyGen, ElevenLabs, HubSpot.

Content

Canva, Lionbridge Language Cloud.

Governance and ops

SiteImprove, Monday.

Analytics and visualisation

Google Analytics (GA4), Looker Studio, Power BI, SEMrush.

Campaign and social

Hootsuite, Meta Business Suite, Google Ads.

Education

Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara. Bachelor's, Business Administration. 1997 to 2001.

Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme. Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. 2026.

Certifications

Certified AI Professional, CAIP. Oxethica, 2026.
Certified Global Ambassador, Global Council for Responsible AI. 2026.
Generative AI Leader. Google, 2026.
Chartered Fellow (CFCIM). Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2026.
CIM AI in Marketing Programme. 2026.
Digital Marketing Leadership. Google / Avado.

Memberships and roles

Chartered Fellow (CFCIM).
Ambassador, Global Council for Responsible AI (GCRAI).
Startup mentor, Tech Istanbul.
European Women on Boards (EWOB).
Women in AI (WAI).
Yapay Zeka ve Teknoloji Derneği (Artificial Intelligence and Technology Association, YZTD).

Recognition

British Council customer story on TheBrief.ai (December 2022). Direct attributed quote on AI-powered creative automation outcomes: 1,000+ assets shipped across 7 languages, 70% reduction in design cost. Read the case study.

Harvard Kennedy School case study (Case #1911.0, 2010). Akbank: A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste (A). Documents the bank's strategic adaptation during the New Horizons Restructuring Programme, on which Meltem worked as management consultant. Read the case.

Translator. Turkish edition of Return on Customer (Peppers and Rogers, 2005), published as Kazandıran Müşteri by Rota Yayınları, 2008.

Languages

Turkish (native), English (full professional), German (limited working), Romanian (elementary).

Off-hours

Two boys at home. A passion for wellness. And a habit of taking good care of the world.

FAQ

Who is Meltem Günyüzlü Ateş?

Meltem Günyüzlü Ateş, CFCIM, CAIP is an AI-first marketing trainer and consultant based in Istanbul and working globally. She has spent 25+ years across creative agency and global corporate, and currently leads a centralised marketing operation covering 60+ markets at the British Council. NextOfMind is her own advisory and training practice. She is a Chartered Fellow (CFCIM), a Google-certified Generative AI Leader, and a member of European Women on Boards. She completed the Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme at Saïd Business School in 2026, serves as an Ambassador for the Global Council for Responsible AI, and mentors startups in the Tech Istanbul programme.

What does Meltem Günyüzlü Ateş advise on?

AI adoption and governance in marketing, marketing operating model design, and the operational side of AI transformation: data readiness, workflow redesign, governance and talent. She works with boards and marketing leadership teams as a trainer and consultant, and writes the weekly LinkedIn newsletter Marketing AI, without the hype.

How can you work with Meltem Günyüzlü Ateş?

Three routes: advisory and board work, speaking and guest lectures, and the “AI-First CMO” training series for marketing leaders, currently open for the waitlist. The single intake form on the contact page sorts requests by intent.

AI-first marketing trainer and consultant.