Between 2007 and 2015, Ciliv was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Turkcell Group - the leading technology and communications company in Turkey, a NYSE listed company with 72 million subscribers in 8 countries.

He went on to receive his graduate degree, MBA from Harvard Business School in 1983.

[2][3] Ciliv served as the President and CEO of Novasoft Systems Inc., a company he co-founded in Boston, MA.

Between 2000 and 2007, he served in various executive management positions at Microsoft Office, Global Sales, Marketing in Redmond, WA.

Under his tenure, Turkcell was globally recognized as a leader in telecommunications and mobile services, elected as the "Most Admired Company" in Turkey seven times in 8 years.