About Ufuk

Ufuk Gokcen was born in Erzerum in 1957 but has lived in multiple countries including France, Canada, and the United States. He came to the U.S. in 1996 with a job offer from Boeing after completing his education where he obtained a B.S. in Mechanical engineering and M.S. in Aeronautical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, as well as his Masters and PhD in Aeronautics at Ecole Nationale Superieure de I’Aeronautique et de I’Espace in France. Before moving to Seattle for Boeing, Ufuk also worked for Boeing in Canada where he was a professional engineer. Outside of his work life, he has been a very active member of the Turkish-American community nationwide since 1997. He has started multiple outstanding projects and organizations including the ATA-WA school and Turkish Studies Endowed Fund at UW NELC, the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce and Industry-NW chapter, ATAA NW region, and the Turkish American Student Association. He was a cofounder of International Children’s Friendship Festival, Boeing Puget Sound Diversity Council, Turkfest (executive director for six years), Seattle Turkish film festival, and the SeaTurks soccer team (manager and sponsor). Besides helping to establish these organizations he was a board member at the World Affairs Council for six years, an advisory board member at UW NELC for about six years, a member of the Boeing Native American community, and a member of TACAWA where he also served as president. For about 12 years Ufuk Gokcen has served as Honorary Consul General of Turkey in Seattle, and was not only a member of the Consular Association of WA but was president for three years and vice-president for two years. Additionally, he has sponsored SIFF for many years and has led community fund raising drives for disaster relief efforts and aid programs for Ahiskan refugees. He has lectured at multiple colleges and universities in the PNW region and is a mentor at Aviation High School. The work he puts into the Turkish-American community is something he values greatly and iterates the importance of maintaining strong relations with the people within it.