Founded in 1997 with the Istanbul Atatürk Airport Build-Operate-Transfer project, Mr. Sani Şener was the co-founder of TAV Airports and served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the first 25 years and Vice Chairman for the last two years. Today, TAV Airports serves approximately 100 million passengers at 15 airports in 8 countries and has become a global brand. Mr Şener has led TAV Airports on this historic journey.
As of 2024, he continues his business life as the Chairman of TAV Construction.

Graduated from TED Ankara College in 1973. Mr. Sener graduated from Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 1977, Şener earned his master’s degree (M. Phil) in fluid mechanics in 1979 from the University of Sussex in the UK. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in engineering from KTU for “his invaluable contributions to the development of Turkish engineering at the international level”, as well as an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the New Hampshire University “for his accomplishments in project and risk management throughout his tenure at TAV”. Prior to his career at TAV Airports, Şener served in various positions, from project manager to general manager, in national and international projects.

He attended the executive education programme on the management of complex systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He gave a lecture in Harvard Business School MBA Programme on TAV Airports Case Study by HBS.

Mustafa Sani Şener previously served on the Board of Airports Council International (ACI World) and acted as chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEIK) Turkey-France, Turkey-Croatia, and Turkey-Kazakhstan Business Council. In 2016, Şener was awarded the Legion d'honneur by the President of the Republic of France François Hollande, due to his contributions to the relations between Turkey and France and he was given the High Honour of Service by the Georgian state. In 2019 he was honored with Medal of Merit for the Republic of North Macedonia for the improvement of business and commercial relations in Macedonia and Turkey.

In the voting conducted by Thomson Extel among national and international financial companies, he was selected as the top candidate in the “Best CEO” category in Turkey in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and placed third in the European Transport Sector in 2014.