Turkish executive Hakan Özmen to lead GE Vernova’s wind business

GE Vernova has named Turkish executive Hakan Özmen as the next CEO of its Wind business. He joins on Nov. 1 as CEO-designate and takes over on Jan. 1, 2027, succeeding Vic Abate.

GE Vernova, the energy company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has named Turkish executive Hakan Özmen as the new chief executive of its Wind business, according to industry publications that reported the appointment on Oct. 16.

Özmen will join the company as CEO-designate on Nov. 1, 2026, and will take over the role on Jan. 1, 2027. He succeeds Vic Abate, who is stepping down after 37 years with the company, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said in the announcement.

A GE Haliade-X wind turbine

The job centers on improving profitability across the company’s onshore and offshore wind businesses. Strazik also pointed to the close-out of the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and continued work on the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the U.K. North Sea.

Özmen will be based in the United States. He is expected to spend his first two months visiting operations and working with teams before deciding in early 2027 where he will be based among GE Vernova’s existing sites.

Özmen spent most of his career at the cable maker Prysmian, where he served as chief executive of Prysmian North America and as executive vice president of the telecommunications business, and led Prysmian PowerLink, the group’s transmission and subsea cable projects unit. Since November 2025 he has been CEO of Gridspertise, a company that provides technology and services to modernize power grids.

Özmen studied industrial engineering at Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara and earned an MBA from Yeditepe University in Istanbul.