Bobby Umar

Bobby is a 4x TEDx speaker, international author, Huffington Post contributor and Social Media influencer. 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 (www.raeallan.com), whose mission is to discover, inspire and develop leadership. Thousands of people across North America have felt an authentic connection with Bobby’s energetic keynotes and funny personal stories on personal branding, networking and social media.

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 13th 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.