Tarkan Ocal

Mr. Ocal was a candidate for the Florida State Senate from the 29th District during the September 2002 Primary Elections. He was born in Ankara, Turkey, studied in various schools in the United States, and is currently employed as a Mechanical Engineer at Anymetric Systems in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He graduated from Bursa Boy’s High School as valedictorian, earned a full scholarship from Fulbright Foundation, attended University of Southern Mississippi and University of Minnesota, and received an MS degree in Mechanical Design Engineering from Trinity College and University of London, UK.

Mr. Ocal began his career as a junior drafter at HAKO Minutemen Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota, and later as a designer apprentice in Sperry-Univac, Honeywell, Hutchinson Technologies in the state of Minnesota. He became a Junior Engineer at 3M Corporation in St. Paul before he moved to Ft. Lauderdale where he accepted a Senior Engineer position at Metra-Manurhin Corporation. He worked as a Project Engineer for a U.S. Department of Defense contractor in Washington, D.C. and in Marion, Illinois. He created G&T TECH, Inc. as a Department of Defense contractor and worked as a Vice President of the company. He was a contractor for the Broward County (Florida) Commission Information Technology, and later accepted a position of System Network Analyst I and gradually promoted to the highest position in the Help Desk and LAN Technology departments.

Mr. Ocal has been involved in various community and volunteer works over the years. He worked as a volunteer for various union groups in Minnesota helping unemployed workers, acted as a mentor to local community college students on technical areas in Minnesota and Iowa, and helped local churches when 1980 Muriel Boat Migration people came to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Mr. Ocal was appointed to several local community groups for assisting the poor and elderly in Minnesota and Iowa. He helped establish technical departments in a number of community colleges in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Mr. Ocal is an avid soccer player. After moving to Florida, he joined the Gold Coast Soccer League and was elected the first vice president of that organization. Later, he was appointed to Florida State Soccer Association. His passion for volunteer and community work, however, continues as he devoted himself as a volunteer teacher at local churches and non-profit organizations. Before he ran for the Florida Senate elections in 2002 as a Democrat, Mr. Ocal worked on GoToVote campaign and voluntarily transported many elderly and handicap voters to the voting places during the 2000 elections.