Integrity. Partnership. Prosperity.
Team
KEREM MAVITUNCALILAR
PRINCIPAL & MANAGING MEMBER
Prior to founding Watermark, Kerem in his latest post served as the CEO of Astra Student Housing where he has played an integral role in the set-up and development of Turkey’s largest private operator with over 5.000 beds. He has simultaneously served as the Managing Director of Milestone Capital Partners, a direct investment firm in Turkey that was founded in 2007. With Milestone, Kerem has led the acquisition of 50% stake in Astra in 2010, since then he has brought together a diverse base of Shareholders including strategic development partners and financial institutions including the IFC (World Bank). Kerem has over 20 years of global investment experience in financial markets across multiple asset classes including managing public equity portfolios and private equity investments. Prior, he was a senior trader at Citigroup, N.A. Treasury in Dubai. Kerem has also served as the Vice President of Board of Trustees at Bilgi University. Kerem has a B.Sc. from Bentley Uni. (USA) and M.B.A. fromWarwick Uni. (UK).
DAVID TARANTO
PRINCIPAL & MANAGING MEMBER
David begun his professional career with the M&A team in 2010 with multinational commodity trader Noble Group in Hong Kong. In 2011 he moved to Shanghai then Singapore for a year to join to the metallurgical and thermal coal desks. Followed by an 18 months on-site project management role in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, he later moved to Australia to lead the due diligence and CAPEX feasibility study targeted to salvage the iron mine acquired by the Group. In 2014 David paused his professional career to complete a lifelong ambition of world travel; two years dedicated to solo backpacking divided across two overland routes- India to Japan and Mexico to Patagonia. In 2016 having moved back to Turkey after 10 years, he chose to follow a more entrepreneurial journey involving ventures in hospitality, aviation and beverage industries before partnering with Kerem Mavituncalilar in 2018 to pursue opportunities in Commercial Real Estate by establishing Watermark. David benefits from a rich multicultural background and international education and exposure. David has a B.Sc. from Bentley University (USA).
CAGRI KANVER
MANAGING PARTNER, USA
President of New York based GD3 Real Estate Inc, Mr. Kanver is an accomplished business professional and trained architect with almost two decades of development experience assisting companies with real estate projects from inception to completion. His work extends geographically world-wide with successful projects from New York to Miami in the US, and across the globe to Turkey, South America and the CIS countries. Mr. Kanver is also the founder of RED (Real Estate Development) in New York (REDinNYC), one of New York City’s most respected real estate professional networking organizations that bring industry professionals together with periodic events and critical conferences which recently grows in entire USA. Mr. Kanver also represents real estate companies from Turkey for their North and South America initiatives. This includes family offices along with firms such as Acibadem Project Management, NEF, Rixos, and Tabanlioglu. Mr. Kanver also works with CNY, NY based construction firm for Turken Foundation Yurt Evi project in Manhattan. He holds strong relationship with Peru and Bolivia for specifically healthcare projects.
CEYLAN KENDIR
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Following her internships at the NYSE and Vega Hedge Fund, Ceylan has started her professional career at Deloitte Istanbul as an M&A analyst, where she looked into various industries such as FMCG and logistics. Later, she moved to Paris where she worked as a real estate consultant. She focused on unique investment opportunities in Paris and short term rentals. On her spare time, she pursued her dream and enrolled in the renowned culinary school of Le Cordon Bleu Paris. She graduated with a pastry degree and worked side by side with “Meilleurs Ouvriers de France”. In 2016, she moved back to Istanbul to turn her ambition into reality by co-founding Misafirliq. Misafirliq, today is a well established household name for contemporary catering. Ceylan speaks four languages and is a wholehearted fan of healthy living and well-being which she promotes by various activities such as kite surfing and yoga. Ceylan has a B.A. in Business Economics from Brown University (USA).