Rick Celik became the President of Celik Enterprises LLC since February 2017, managing partner of Honey Bear online stores since September of 2020 and managing partner of Tutor Specialists since August of 2022. These companies focus on involvement in the areas of education, clothing, jewelry and wholesale car businesses.
He became the President/CEO of Star Learning in August 2013 after serving 6 years as President of Turkish-American Chambers of Commerce in Houston, TX and Atlanta, GA. He has spent 25+ years in education within three different countries: Turkey, UK and the USA. He has worked as a teacher at private schools and tutoring centers between 1983 to 1991. Later, he took on different administrative level positions (assistant principal, principal and Executive Director) at various middle and high school institutions and colleges in Turkey, UK and the USA. Additionally, he worked as Dean of a private college for 6 years in Virginia before he moved to Atlanta, GA as the President of the Southeast Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce in charge of five states.
He organized the largest Art and Essay contest in the southeast region within 5 states with more than 10,000 participants. Each year, the 30 finalists of this competition were awarded to a cultural Europe tour.
He created one of the biggest Science and Art fair organizations in the state of Wisconsin, while working as a principal in a public middle and high school for three years. He focused on serving economically disadvantaged inner-city students.
He served as a member of the Houston Mayor’s Economic Development Council of Europe for three years, whilst he was the president of the Turkish-American chamber of commerce within 8 different states. He also chaired the Educational Pillar program primarily aiming to connect local universities in Houston with the universities in Europe. During his service as the president of Turkish Chambers, he organized 50+ culture and trade missions to Europe and Turkey.
He also served at Houston International Trade Development Council as an advisory board member. He served as a board member at the American Health Tourism Association. Additionally, he served as a consultant for a few companies in different fields.
Currently, he continues to serve as the Chairman of Turkey at World Chamber of Commerce Organization headquarters in Atlanta, GA.
He later founded the World Chamber of Commerce of Texas under the World Chamber of Commerce branch based in Atlanta, GA in 2014. Since 2014, he has served in various positions at this chamber including: Founding Chair, President and Co-Chair positions. He currently serves as a lifetime board member and co-chair of this organization.
He is a graduate of one of the top prestigious schools, Bogazici (aka Robert College established by Americans in 1863) University in Istanbul, Turkey in the field of Chemistry before he earned an MBA in the USA. He is a graduate of the FBI Citizen Academy of Atlanta in 2008 and finished various leadership programs.
Rick Celik is originally from Istanbul, Turkey. He has been an educator more than 25 years as well as an entrepreneur in different industries. He has worked in three different countries including Turkey, UK and USA. He moved to the USA in 1997 and worked in four different states including Virginia, Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas. He currently has a Turkish and American dual citizenship.
