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Bobby Umar

Executive Leadership Coach & Authority on Personal Branding

One of Inc. Magazine‘s Top 100 Leadership speakers. A champion of authentic connection and heart-based leadership, Bobby brings an engaging presence, endless exuberance and dynamic people skills to his presentations. With a background in brand marketing, engineering and the performing arts, Bobby draws on his diverse 20-year career to lead Raeallan, whose mission is to discover, inspire and develop leadership.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Presentations

Are You Truly Getting Social Media ROI?
Itʼs all about engagement & relationships. Modern technology allows us to connect faster and to more people than ever before. Bobby reveals how to tap into the digital revolution and make it work for you.

Do You Know Your Value, Story, Legacy?
Be yourself and the rest will follow. In the seven billion strong world of the 21st century, personal branding has never been more important. Develop your personal brand with Bobby by discovering the unique selling traits that will set you apart.

Are You making Genuine Connections in the Digital Age?
Build, grow, harness your network. Learn to build and leverage your connections. Bobby lends his extensive experience to help you nurture genuine contacts and valuable relationships through authentic networking.

How Do You Create a Lasting Legacy?
Connect with Values to fuel the new Leaders heart, mind and soul. The new leaders is one who connects with the heart and with other hearts. Bobby shares key insights into how heart leadership transforms individuals, teams and organizations, but most importantly, society.

Have You Ever Felt Lost as a Leader? It’s Okay, We All have
As a leader, it’s okay to feel to lost sometimes, but it’s not okay to do nothing about it. Every authentic leader feels lost at times, whether professionally, personally or academically. Bobby delivers ideas on embracing and understand the lost leader. He demonstrates through powerful personal stories why we should embrace failure, what to do about feeling lost and how it can serve everyone.

Platform Plus

Social Influencer | Twitter

With over 400,000 followers, Bobby is a passionate social influencer on the topics of Leadership, Personal Branding & Networking. Named the 4th best Leadership influencer on social media (via Kred), he hosts a weekly tweetchat called #PoCchat every Monday at 11am that has reached over 55 million impressions. Bobby has also been named one of the 2nd best business coach to follow on twitter and the 15th top tweeter in Toronto.

Host/MC

A champion of authentic connection and heart-based leadership, Bobby brings an engaging presence, endless exuberance and dynamic people skills to his role as host/mc. A top five leadership influencer on social media via Kred, with over 350,000 followers, Bobby’s social media influence can help your event gain traction both online and in person. He’s mastered the art of quickly articulating and encapsulating concise takeaways and learnings for the audience to remember. Bobby has over 25 years experience emceeing and hosting including TEDx Laurier, DYPB conference, and hundreds of other conferences, using his Second City’s Improv Program skills, social media, comedy, speaking experience, understanding my audience, and leveraging some charm and dynamic energy to enhance every event that he hosts.

Awards

2016
CV Magazine | Best Business Development Coach - East Canada
CV Magazine | Award for Excellence Leadership Speaking - Canada

2009-10
Worldwide Instructor of the Year, Veritas Prep

2003-04
Kraft Canada | Best Teamwork, Brand marketing awards
Kraft Canada | Best Brand Plans, Brand marketing awards


Performance & Productivity
Business & Workplace
Media & Entertainment
Innovation & Change Management
Technology & Trends
Motivation & Inspiration
  • Bobby did a phenomenal job as keynote speaker. He was really engaging and the topic completely resonated with the conference delegates. The interactive exercises were very useful and a great way to get the room to connect with one another. He was a wonderful start to the whole conference day. Bobby has amazing energy and really connected with the audience which can be really challenging but he did it so effortlessly.

    - Ontario Home Economics Association
  • I was incredibly impressed with his ability to capture the fresh audience and connect with them immediately. Having known Bobby for a few years now, one of his outstanding Leadership qualities is his ability to connect with others. He is authentic and genuine in developing both meaningful relationships and leadership in everyone.

    - Founder, GameOn Leadership
  • Bobby’s insights into our business and the way we operate were bang on. Can't wait to have him back!

    - Marketing Director, PepsiCo
  • Bobby's energy and encouragement are a catalyst for student action.

    - Shad McMaster participant
  • A fantastic speaker, Bobby is very effective in his communication style, respectful, enthusiastic and a great listener.

    - Category Manager, Starbucks

Summary Profile

Bobby is a recognized developer and teacher of programs designed to motivate senior executives, business professionals, and students. He has acquired over 20 years’ experience in leadership training and professional development through conferences, corporate events, and numerous teaching positions. Bobby is a passionate Leadership expert on Personal Branding, Networking and Social Media. Named the 4th best Leadership influencer on social media (via Kred), he hosts a weekly tweetchat called #PoCchat every Monday at 11am that has reached over 55 million impressions.

Bobby has also been named one of the 2nd best business coach to follow on twitter and the 15th top tweeter in Toronto. Bobby is dedicated to causes embracing youth, entrepreneurship and diversity including Shad Valley and Nspire Network. Bobby has run teambuilding activities, presented keynotes, and coached thousands of people across Canada. Major clients include most Canadian universities, TD Canada Trust, Telus, Canadian Tire and Kraft.

Bobby has taught prep courses for the GMAT (the test required for entry into graduate-level business schools) for over 10 years, currently for Veritas and previously for Kaplan, both top global test prep companies. In 2009, he was awarded the “Worldwide Instructor of the Year” for Veritas, out of 500+ instructors across 130 countries.

Bobby’s varied career has included serving as Program Manager and Faculty Head of Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Engineering and Arts for McMaster University’s Shad Valley summer program for gifted high school youth. He has also worked in brand management for Tier-1 companies such as Kraft in Cheese Marketing and Unilever for Dove Masterbrand. Working specifically on the Campaign for Real Beauty, he was Director of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, supporting organizations across Canada that fostered positive self-esteem in young women. While working at Bombardier as an Aerospace Design Engineer, he founded and ran a musical theatre company, Markham Thespian Society, where he produced, performed, stage directed and supervised a team of over 100 people.

During his Degroote (McMaster) MBA studies, Bobby was President of the MBA Association, received awards in case competitions, academics and leadership, and he graduated at the top of his class as a co-valedictorian. He is most proud of 2 things – one is getting the MBA students a healthcare plan.

Secondly, Bobby helped put McMaster on the MBA map by organizing the first MBA Games team in 2000 and then developing a long-term plan to win and host the event within three years. Since that time DeGroote has maintained a strong presence, winning the event and hosting several times.

Bobby is also a professional actor and singer. He graduated from Second City’s renowned Advanced Conservatory Program, where he honed his improvisation, creative sketch writing and performance abilities. Afterwards, he joined a sketch comedy troupe called Fade to Brown, serving as a producer, performer, writer, and stage director. Fade to Brown developed a TV pilot for OMNI television that aired several times since 2009.  Now he is a member of ACTRA and still produces and performs.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Bad Dog Theatre. Bobby has spoken at TEDx four times, including TEDxUWO on “The Power of Connection” and TEDxUTSC on “School: Learning to Fly as a Leader”. He is an instructor for DeGroote School of Business’ Executive Education program, teaching ‘Powerful Presentations’ and ‘Social Media Bootcamp’.

Most importantly, Bobby is a fiercely proud father. He just loves playing ultimate Frisbee, chess and strategy board games like Catan, predicting the Oscars, and remembering the lyrics to every 80’s TV show theme song. He has a passion for music, singing, and musical theatre. Bobby has never lost a thumb war, ever. Bobby brings an engaging presence, endless exuberance and dynamic people skills essential to developing and nurturing Raeallan participants.

Links

Blog | 2016 NSBest Speaker Profile: Bobby Umar Ten Thousand Coffees | 10KC Leader of the Week: Bobby Umar Art of Charm | Bobby Umar: Network Anytime (Episode 464) Inc. Magazine | 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference

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