On 4 April 2016, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev awarded the Medal of Progress to members of the Azerbaijan Chamber of Auditors on the occasion of the chamber's twentieth anniversary. Among those recognized for their contribution to the country's audit system was Ilgar Veliyev, Head of EY's branch office in the Azerbaijan Republic.
Ilgar Veliyev graduated from Azerbaijan State Economics University with an Honors Diploma. He is a certified graduate of the Executive MBA Program at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Ilgar is a licensed Azerbaijani Auditor and a US Certified Public Accountant. He joined EY in August 1994 as one of the first Azerbaijanis to work for an international accounting firm. In summer 2007 he became the first Azerbaijani national to be promoted to partner in an international accounting firm. During his career with EY, Ilgar Veliyev spent a year working for the Moscow practice (1995-96) and two years working for Ernst & Young's UK firm in London (2001-03).