
Hamdi Ulukaya

Hamdi Ulukaya is founder, Chairman and CEO of Chobani, one of the fastest growing food companies in the last decade and a pioneer for the natural food movement.
Raised in a dairy-farming family in a small village in eastern Turkey, Ulukaya launched Chobani in 2007 with the mission and vision of making better food more accessible. In less than five years, Chobani became the No. 1–selling Greek Yogurt brand in the U.S. with more than a billion dollars in annual sales. In 2017, Chobani was named to Fortune’s ‘Change the World’ list of companies, and earlier this year it was honored with a Salute to Greatness Award by The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Ulukaya has always made helping people and having a positive impact on communities a priority for Chobani. From the beginning, the company has donated a portion of its profits to charitable causes, many of them in Idaho and New York where its products are made. Ulukaya implemented a groundbreaking profit-sharing program for the company’s 2,000 employees and took the rare step in manufacturing by instituting a six week, fully paid parental leave program for all mothers and fathers.
A devoted humanitarian, Ulukaya founded the Tent Partnership for Refugees to mobilize the private sector to improve the lives & livelihoods of the more than 20 million refugees around the globe. He also signed the Giving Pledge and committed the majority of his personal wealth to the cause. Ulukaya was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work on the refugee crisis and his innovative approach to business.
Ulukaya sits on the board of the Pathfinder Village and The American Turkish Council. Most recently, Ulukaya became a member of the B Team, a collective of global leaders working to inspire dialogue and business action for a fairer, greener and more human economy. A big fan of independent films and the Turkish soccer team Fenerbahce, Ulukaya lives in New Berlin, N.Y.