Mike Mehmet Mustafoglu, a business and community leader, is a naturalized American citizen, born in Cyprus and educated in the United States. He attended high school in Illinois as an American Field Service Scholar and college in Kansas as a Fulbright Scholar. He holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Wichita State University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from University of Southern California/University of Houston. He is married to Debbie, a former Miss Oklahoma, who is a Grammy nominated opera singer performing under the stage name of Demetra George. The Mustafoglus have two daughters, Devran and Deniz.
Mr. Mustafoglu is the founder and Chairman of TransGlobal Financial Corporation; a Los Angeles based private equity firm investing in and providing services to emerging growth-oriented companies. Through his company, he has founded, co-founded and financed a variety of successful business enterprises, providing employment opportunities to many Americans and fostering a number of business advances. He served many of these businesses in the capacities of Chairman, President and CFO. His board positions included ECO2, Inc., Serv-Tech, Inc., Corgenix Medical Corporation, U.S. Medical Group, Inc., Kyrenia Acquisition Corporation, Girne Acquisition Corporation and Para Mas Internet, Inc.
Prior to establishing TransGlobal in 1991, Mr. Mustafoglu served as the president of the petroleum related companies owned by the Oxbow Group, which has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the largest 400 privately held companies in the United States. Prior to joining Oxbow in 1984, Mr. Mustafoglu was with J. Paul Getty’s Getty Oil Company of Los Angeles, where he was Vice President of Finance for Getty Oil Canada, a $600 million company.
He is the author of various articles dealing with risk in business, including the groundbreaking research published in his articles, “Forecasting Political Risk” and “Integration of Sudden Expropriation Risk into Project Economics”.
He is a staunch supporter of education that aims to provide access to economic opportunities for ethnic groups. He founded and financed an Internet company focused on bringing the information revolution to the Latino community in the United States. Because of his efforts, California Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante named him to the Board of Trustees of California-Mexico Fellowship Program. Mr. Mustafoglu is a firm believer of the Sanskrit saying, “Walk together, talk together, and then and only then you shall have peace”. To reinforce the understanding of the American values in his home country, he has provided scholarships to three students from Cyprus to study in U.S. universities.
Taking pride in his ethnic heritage, he is passionate in promoting and helping the Turkish American community to achieve and maintain high standards through good citizenship, business education, the arts and philanthropy. He is an active member of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (”ATAA”) and made the single largest donation ever to ATAA’s Endowment Fund to support the organization’s cultural activities. He actively participates in the staging of cultural events intended to increase the understanding of the Turkish culture by Americans, such as hosting the opening fund raising event for the exhibit, “Palace of Gold & Light: Treasures from Topkapi Palace”, that toured three major U.S. cities.
Deeply grateful for the opportunities his adopted country provided him, he and his family organized “Help for the Heartland, With Love From Florida”, a successful fundraising concert in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing to benefit the survivors. Because of his efforts to relieve the suffering of the bombing victims, the governors of Oklahoma and Florida, where the concert was held, honored him and his family.
In recognition of his entrepreneurial accomplishments, Palm Beach Atlantic University awarded him the companion American Free Enterprise Medal. He recently received the Outstanding Achievement in Business Award in a joint meeting of ATAA and Jewish American Congress.
Mr. Mustafoglu’s affiliations include Omicron Delta Kappa (Leadership Honorary), Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honorary), Phi Eta Sigma (Electrical Engineering Honorary). He is a former member of the Board of Directors of National Petroleum Refiners Association, Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Economic Council of Palm Beach County and the World Affairs Council. Mr. Mustafoglu was one of the 2002 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients.
