Erhan Öner was born in İzmir, Turkey, in 1946.

He is a mechanical engineer by profession, educated at Middle East Techinal University in Ankara (B.S.M.E 1968) and at the University of Miami in Florida (M.S.M.E., 1969).

He completed postgraduate studies in Pipeline Engineering in 1969 at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and in Executive Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1973.

He worked for a leading Turkish corporation in Istanbul in various positions and served as the company's CEO for 13 years before retiring in 2013.

Öner has served  as president of various local and international associations.

He has been decorated with Spanish and Moroccan medals for his services to the development of economic relations with Turkey.

Currently he is adviser and board member of the same corporation.

He is married with twin daughters and two grandsons, and lives in Istanbul,