Duygu Alptekin Gursu, M.A., MCC, ACTC

Duygu Alptekin Gürsu is an international keynote speaker, executive leadership and team coach, and author who brings together more than 30 years of international business and leadership experience with leadership science, organizational psychology, and 17 years of coaching experience.

Having worked with leaders and teams across more than 50 countries, Gürsu brings together research, real-world business experience, and powerful storytelling in her keynotes on leadership, executive presence, influence and communication, women’s leadership, team effectiveness, and resilience. At the heart of her work is one fundamental question: In a world of increasing uncertainty and constant change, how can leaders deliver results while bringing out the potential in others?

Gürsu began her corporate career at Unilever and went on to spend 12 years with The Coca-Cola Company. At Coca-Cola, she held senior leadership roles including Marketing Director and Deputy General Manager for Türkiye, as well as Strategic Marketing Director for Eurasia, with responsibility spanning 50 countries. Her experience across diverse cultures and markets, including Türkiye, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and India, continues to shape her work with leaders and teams today.

Since 2009, Gürsu has worked with CEOs, senior executives, leadership teams, and high-potential leaders around the world. She holds the International Coaching Federation’s highest coaching credential, Master Certified Coach (MCC), as well as the Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC). She was among the first affiliate coaches in Türkiye for IMD Business School and CoachSource and has partnered with these international organizations on leadership development engagements across multiple regions.

At the core of Gürsu’s philosophy is the belief that leadership is not simply a title or a set of competencies, but a practice brought to life every day through conscious choices. She helps leaders connect with their identity and strengths, make more intentional choices, expand their impact, and create environments in which others can realize their potential. In her work with teams, she focuses particularly on trust, open communication, constructive interaction, shared purpose, accountability, and resilience.

Gürsu has also brought her leadership experience and insights into her work as a best-selling author. Her first book, Transformational Leadership: Inspire the Excellence Within, was published in 2019 and reached its fifth edition in 2026. Her second book, Empowering Women on the Way to the Top, explores the visible and invisible barriers women encounter on their leadership journeys and the practices that can help them navigate and overcome those barriers. Gürsu is also a co-author of her third book, Making Teams Work, written with an international group of authors and focused on leading teams in an increasingly unpredictable world.

A graduate of Robert College, Gürsu earned her BA in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University and her MA in Organizational Psychology from Istanbul Bilgi University, where her research focused on women’s leadership. She also completed the Positive Psychology specialization at the University of Pennsylvania and has undertaken extensive international training and certification in leadership, team coaching, emotional intelligence, change, and organizational development. From 2010 to 2016, she taught Marketing Communications and Applied Leadership in Istanbul Bilgi University’s MBA program.

Today, Duygu Alptekin Gürsu continues to work with leaders and teams across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia, while speaking at international conferences and corporate events on leadership, transformation, women’s leadership, executive impact, resilience, and high-performing teams.