Zeynep Yenice

President, Turkey - India Business Council

Zeynep Hale Yenice, known to many colleagues and her clients fondly as Zee, was born in Istanbul, Turkey and later lived most of her life in the United States. Zee took her first steps into the Travel industry in 1986 at the Northwestern Business College in Chicago, Illinois. She entered into a specialized program which consisted of a joint collaboration with the Echols School of International Travel Training. The program merged the Northwestern studies in Accounting and Business Management along with Echol’s specialized travel industry training held in New York and Switzerland. Her professional career started with the iconic Midway Airlines, and later held positions with industry leaders such as Casey Travel Corporation, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Swissair, Turkish Airlines, and Picasso Travel. She later took on a role with Skylink USA, a leading wholesale consolidator in North America, as the National Sales Manager. During this time in addition to her routine functions overseeing the national sales campaign of the company she also lead the way in establishing the company’s outbound call center in India, giving her the opportunity to live in the country for many months, feeding her passion for the location and breathing life to what would later become the tour program “The Maharajas Secret Places.” In 2009, Zee decided to bring her 24+ years of experience in the Travel Industry to a new plateau by founding Travelxclusive, an agency specializing in VIP Travel, while offering a wide array of services in other areas of the travel industry as well. Travelxclusive quickly reached over 1 Million dollars in gross sales within its’ first year of operations, and continues to amass a large portfolio of affluent clients today. While continuing as Director and Founder of Travelxclusive, became the Chief of Marm Travel, the travel component of Marm Assistance one of the world’s leading assistance companies, and at this time began her collaborations with the Ministry of Health to bring Turkey to the forefront of medical tourism industry. For over 30 years, Zee has lived by the motto that “Travel is food for the soul” and continues to look for opportunities to bring this passion into the lives of others. As a member of The TravelSociety, Virtuoso, TURSAB, her collaborations with the Turkish Ministry of Health on medical travel, and serving a Vice-President on the TURSAB Commision for Expertise in Medical Travel, she has established herself as a mentor and leader in the industry. She uses her spare time to mentor and tutor underpriviliged youth in Turkey, volunteers with street animals, from where she has become the proud parent of 3 cats and a dog, and has two children and a grandson, who shares her passion for travel and her compassion for people.