Umar is an award-winning marketing strategist. He specializes in using digital first thinking to help organizations transform and grow. Umar has partnered with brands like Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, UNICEF, Adidas, Canada Post and TD helping them with marketing strategy, product design, digital transformation and communications. He has spent 15 years working at startups, brands, and specialized marketing agencies. He is currently the Chief Experience Officer at VML Canada, the world’s largest creative company. He is actively part of the marketing community as an awards judge, instructor and was the program director at Miami Ad, the world’s top ideas school. Umar has a passion for education, championing inclusivity and all things mental health. He is a trained marketer, futurist and policy maker with an MBA in Marketing, an undergraduate in Economics, and certificates in digital, e-commerce, design and foresight form Rotman School, University of Toronto and University of Houston.