Kerem Alper
Hi, I’m Kerem, one of the co-founders of ATÖLYE. As a multidisciplinary systems thinker, I primarily contemplate the new and the next for our organism.
I am an avid believer in community-powered systems being the foundations of a sustainable future and I personally learn a lot from nature.
Over the years, I’ve learned a lot from Eastern philosophy and I have been going through a personal transformation based on these learnings. My two favorite quotes that drive ATÖLYE’s long-term thinking and the community-powered nature are:
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao Tzu
“The Next Buddha May Be a Community” by Thich Nhat Hanh
Kerem is a Co-founder and the CEO of Neol and a Co-founder and the Chair of ATÖLYE.
As a multidisciplinary systems thinker with a background in entrepreneurship, decentralized systems, and design, his deep commitment to unleashing creative confidence in communities and enabling meaningful change in the world is what motivates him at the core.
As Neol’s CEO, Kerem drives the vision for the startup to build it into a global decentralized creative teams platform focusing on impact innovation. Neol is a VC-backed technology startup revolutionizing the way the creative services industry operates.
As ATÖLYE’s Chair, Kerem’s primary focus is to advise leadership around strategy while contributing to certain global relationships.
Kerem holds a dual degree in MBA and MS in Sustainable Design Systems from Stanford University.
While at Stanford, he worked closely with David Kelley, the founder of Stanford d.school and IDEO; the firm behind the human-centered design approach. This work has played a foundational role in the formative years of ATÖLYE, and more recently, Neol.
Prior to co-founding ATÖLYE, Kerem worked at Nest Labs (Google Nest) in the initial years where he was responsible for imagining new business models and digital experiences for the company. He was behind Nest Energy Solutions’ energy savings and demand response program.
Kerem was selected the Lightspeed Venture Partners Fellow in 2012, Young Creative Entrepreneur of the Year by the British Council in 2014, a Young Global Leader in 2016, and a Responsible Leader by BMW Foundation in 2018.
He has lectured at Stanford d.school and Bilgi University around human-centered design and sustainable systems design.
Kerem is a board director of imece, Toyi, and Urla Digital Agriculture and serves on the advisory board of Bozcaada Jazz Festival where he dreams to play one day.