A native of Ankara, Ussal Sahbaz graduated from Harvard Kennedy School with a master's degree in public administration and international development program in May 2010. He holds a BS degree from the Middle East Technical University and an MA from Bilkent University, both in economics. He also worked as a consultant to the World Bank in Washington D.C. on investment climate, competition policy and special economic zones areas. He has worked as a competition economist at Turkish Competition Authority since 2005.

Since October 2010, Ussal Sahbaz runs TEPAV's projects on entrepreneurship and private equity, in Turkey as well as abroad in South Caucuses, Middle East and South Asia.

Ussal Şahbaz, worked at TEPAV from October 2010 to February 2016.