Fatma Dirkes

Fatma Dirkes is Vice President, Head of Executive & Professional Education. Having joined Frankfurt School in 2003 and been appointed to its Board in 2007, she has played a key role in shaping the institution’s strategic development and international activities for more than two decades. Her responsibilities include risk management and long-term institutional development.
As Head of Executive & Professional Education, Fatma leads Frankfurt School’s lifelong learning activities and the continued development of its practice-oriented education for executives and professionals. She oversees a broad portfolio of certificate programmes and short courses across banking, corporate and real estate finance, leadership, strategy, innovation, ESG and digital transformation. She is also responsible for the Frankfurt School Dubai Training Campus, supporting the School’s growing education and training activities in the Middle East.
Prior to taking on responsibility for Executive & Professional Education, Fatma headed the International Advisory Services (IAS) Department for more than two decades. Under her leadership, IAS developed into an internationally active education and advisory unit, implementing education, research and capacity-building initiatives in more than 90 countries in cooperation with international financial institutions, development organisations and other partners.
Fatma is also closely engaged in European banking and financial education. She served as Secretary of the European Banking and Financial Training Association (EBTN) from 2018 to 2019 and as its President from 2020 to 2026. She continues to serve EBTN as a Board Member and Chair of its Sustainable Finance Committee, contributing to the advancement of lifelong learning, quality standards and sustainable finance education across Europe.
In addition, Fatma serves as Chair of the Board of the Indo-German Centre for Business Excellence and as a Member of the Technical Committee of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, where she contributes her expertise to initiatives focused on climate insurance and resilience.
Prior to joining Frankfurt School, Fatma worked as an auditor and consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. She holds an MBA from Goethe University and is a certified Executive and Professional Career Coach from Frankfurt School. She speaks Turkish, German and English and brings extensive international experience to her work in executive education, financial sector development and institutional leadership.