Hikmet Ersek is a Turkish businessman who is the former CEO of Western Union. He is also the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria in Denver for Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming in the United States.

With more than 30 years of executive experience in financial services, Ersek joined Western Union in 1999 and became CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, Western Union successfully diversified and evolved its business to become a global payments company. Significant accomplishments included: growing the company’s digital and mobile offerings; expanding the company’s portfolio into the B2B payments sector; growing its retail money transfer business to more than 550,000 worldwide Agent locations and more than 100,000 ATMs and kiosks; implementing a new technology platform; and significantly upgrading the company’s global compliance programs.

A citizen of Austria and Turkey, Ersek draws on his international background to speak out publicly for the rights of migrants and refugees worldwide. He has been publicly recognised for his commitment to the community and corporate responsibility, including as Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine’s Responsible CEO of the Year.

Ersek is frequently quoted by major global media outlets on business and societal topics such as migration, digital payments and global business transformation. He is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and the Business Roundtable.

Ersek began his career in financial services in Europe when he joined Europay/MasterCard in Austria in 1986. A decade later, he joined General Electric (GE) Capital, where he also represented the GE Corporation as the National Executive in Austria and Slovenia. He speaks English, German and Turkish fluently, and enjoyed a short career as a professional basketball player in Europe prior to his private sector experience.

Ersek holds a Master's (Magister) degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Wirtschaftsuniversität (University of Economics) in Vienna, Austria.