Istanbul, Istanbul, Türkiye
With over 20 years of leadership experience in digital businesses of various sizes, I have an Executive MBA from Koç University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Boğaziçi University, as well as certification in Coaching and Agile Product Management. I am passionate about driving digital transformation and growth for organizations that aim to innovate and excel in their industries. I have delivered exponential growth results with digital products, from zero to millions of revenue, users, downloads, and followers, across multiple platforms, countries and markets. I have also recruited, nurtured, and empowered top talent as a natural leader, within teams of diverse size and culture. My mission is to leverage my computer engineering and AI background, as well as my entrepreneurial and storytelling skills combined with experience from 1000+ coaching sessions, to create value and impact for my colleagues, partners, businesses, and their customers.
• Reporting to the Chairman of the Board, leading technology through an ambitious growth-driven scale-up—driving a rapid transformation from startup mode to enterprise-grade operations. • Scaled the technology team by 56% in a short time, organizing squads for core business domains (Flight, Hotel, Car Rental, Bus & Ferry) and recruiting key leadership roles. • Introduced a layered organizational model and grading system, establishing transparent compensation and career progression while supporting talent retention and growth. • Established demand management and tiered technical support processes, reducing ad-hoc interruptions, improving delivery efficiency, and strengthening stakeholder engagement—enabling the structured processing of 1000+ tasks monthly. • Evolved the company’s product portfolio from a focus on Flight and Bus ticketing into a broader multi-vertical platform by introducing Hotel, Ferry and Car Rental products, launching Hotel and Car Rental rentals from the ground up. • Led major enhancements through critical GDS and several local integrations, significantly expanding inventory and improving booking reliability. • Improved the resilience and scalability of enabling platforms such as Payments, Campaigns, Loyalty, Reporting, and Backoffice systems—enabling improved performance and reliability across a high-demand online travel platform. • Delivered a full infrastructure migration from private cloud to hyperscaler in just 21 days—a highly accelerated timeline. Concurrently established cybersecurity foundations, a modern software delivery pipeline, and a 30% capacity uplift, enabling secure, scalable, and high-performance operations.
• Led the company-wide digital transformation initiative for Bircom and its retail brand HiFiLife, covering CRM, ERP, e-commerce, and marketplace integrations (Amazon, Trendyol, Hepsiburada). • Delivered AI and RPA strategy, launching automations and an AI service chatbot (“maestro”) on the Druid platform to boost efficiency for commercial and support teams. • Applied OKRs and agile governance to keep the transformation program on track and aligned with business objectives. • Introduced automation and integration improvements across Salesforce, Logo, Shopify, Trello, UiPath, and Google Workspace.
• Reporting to the CEO, leading directorates of software development (CRM, ERP, billing, metering and supporting capabilites); as well as PMO, BI/DWH, R&D and energy distribution infrastructure • Orchestrated a pivotal transformation of the IT function, transitioning from traditional IT operations to a product/service-oriented agile delivery organization by establishing agile methodologies. • Introduced ROI-based prioritization, ensuring alignment of IT initiatives with business value and strategic objectives. • Revitalized trust and effective communication between IT and business stakeholders, bridging gaps and fostering collaboration. • Spearheaded the digital transformation of business processes, ensuring seamless integration and alignment with business goals. • Grew the team by 46% during a highly competetive tech talent market, by implementing innovative people management strategies for talent retention and acquisition and fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth. • Set SLA based contracts with vendors and support functions, aligning necessary SLA changes to ensure optimum service / cost balance is achieved
• Guided enterprises and startups through digital transformation, increasing efficiency and productivity through agile and digital solutions such as social media advertising, drip marketing, and cloud services (CRM, ERP, e-Commerce, RPA, GenAI, Collaboration, Planning, Reporting) for scaling and global growth. • Bolstered business growth for clients with effective marketing strategies focusing on service positioning, pricing, offer stacking, and sales funnels. • 1000+ coaching hours with individuals, executives, and entrepreneurs for personal and business growth, applying modern techniques to foster business/career agility, self-awareness, and mental strength. Clients Serviced: • Premium Meal Pack & Dietary Consultancy: - Revitalized IT, Software Development, and Digital Marketing. - Expedited digital transformation, enhanced digital marketing, recovered disabled ad accounts, and boosted digital acquisition. - Improved tele sales with CRM system and lead scoring. Technologies: Asana, Facebook Business Manager, HubSpot, and Vodafone Cloud PBX. • Leading Clinic with Health Tourism Subsidiary: - Revamped CRM software process crucial for A+ segment sales funnels. - Initiated digital function for marketing and sales in medical tourism, led CRM systems integration for telesales and clinic operations. - Formed a telesales team for medical treatments across 10+ countries. - Led IT for call center setup, and developed global affiliate business for sales ecosystem success. Technologies: Asana, Facebook Business Manager, Wordpress, Estesoft, Visual Studio.NET, and Vodafone Cloud PBX. • Global Influencer Marketing Agency: - Consulted Board on digital B2B sales funnel design and execution. - Spurred digital growth with agile teams and growth hacking processes. - Expanded digital products, perfected product/market fit, and optimized B2B SaaS sales funnels.
• Led the start-up of a group of advertising technology, content marketing and affiliation agencies. • Set up an agile enterprise from scratch, and delivered 4X, 2-comma results for the investors in 18 months. • Grew the company to 30+ staff in payroll across different geographies, establishing company culture aligned with the business vision. • Led the development of an adtech platform on Php, PostGreSQL, Redis, AngularJS, Vue.js running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloudflare. • Led the organization from start-up to a prominent affiliate marketing business, targeting 20+ geographies with localized content, from Americas to Europe and Pacific • Created and executed a successful global digital marketing strategy based on content marketing and SEM (paid search at Google Ads and Bing) of local affiliate web sites in several languages (German, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and English localized for several geographies such as Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, etc.) • Established offices, commercial entities and operation centers in EU and non-EU jurisdictions such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, UAE, Malta, Georgia and Estonia • Hands-on experience with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager (GTM), Google Optimize (for A/B Testing), HotJar, Jira, Confluence and Slack, Google Workspace (Suite) and Microsoft Office 365