How Derya Matras left their lane.
Derya Matras moved from engineering into consulting, media and technology – and now leads Meta across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Derya Matras trained as an engineer.
She graduated from Boğaziçi University in 1999 with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, then began her career at Oliver Wyman in Barcelona, working across telecommunications, internet and emerging businesses.
From there, her career moved steadily further away from the profession she had trained for.
After completing an MBA at Columbia Business School, Matras joined McKinsey & Company, spending more than six years advising organisations across telecommunications, media, consumer and public sectors. She then moved into an operating role at Doğan Media Group, where she was Vice President for its Retail, Entertainment and Education businesses.
In 2015, she joined Facebook as Country Director for Turkey.
The remit kept expanding. In 2020, she took responsibility for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Three years later, the UK, Ireland and Nordic markets were added. By then, she was overseeing Meta’s business across more than 80 countries.
In late 2024, Matras became Meta’s Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, leading the company’s commercial operations across one of its largest and most varied regions. Meta has highlighted her ability to make data-led decisions while building businesses across very different markets and cultures.
The industries have changed repeatedly – engineering, consulting, media, retail and technology.
The habit of breaking complex systems down and understanding how they work has travelled with her.
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