He graduated from Middle East Technical University in 1995 with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

He began his career as an engineer at ASELSAN and completed his MBA at METU in 1998.

He began his professional career in marketing at Unilever Turkey in 1998.

He then gained international experience by holding various marketing management positions at Unilever in France and the UK for many years.

After serving as Department Head at Turkcell between 2006 and 2008, he returned to Unilever, serving as Marketing Director for Turkey Food and Algida, General Manager of Ice Cream and Food in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and General Manager of Iran and Unica.

He served as President of Food and Beverage at Unilever NAMETRUB (Russia, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa region) between 2019 and 2023.

After serving as a senior executive across various geographies and categories at Unilever for nearly 25 years, he served as General Manager of Hayat Kimya from 2023 to 2024.

As of September 2024, he was appointed CEO of Ülker and President of Turkey and Central Asia, taking on the responsibility of leading the industry-leading food company into the future.

Özgür Kölükfakı, who speaks English and French, is married with three children.