Taleeb Noormohamed

Taleeb Noormohamed
Born	October 8, 1976 (1976-10-08) (age 40)
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Businessman
Website	Taleeb.ca

Taleeb Noormohamed is a Canadian technology entrepreneur, and Chief Growth Officer of Farfetch. He was Vice President of Business Development for HomeAway.com, which was acquired by Expedia, Inc. He was President & CEO of Serebra, an e-learning solutions provider based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, until its acquisition by Bluedrop Performance Learning in 2012.^{[1] [2]} He was Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships at the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) from 2007 to 2010 (completion of the Games) and, was Director of the Air India Review Secretariat and Senior Advisor to the Hon. Bob Rae.

Biography

Noormohamed was born in Ottawa, Ontario and his family resettled on the North Shore of Vancouver when he was 9 years old. His parents emigrated to Canada from Kenya in 1973 following the political upheaval in East Africa.

He was educated at St. George's High School and in 1994, received a scholarship to attend Princeton University where he studied International Relations. After graduating from Princeton, Noormohamed attended Oxford University on a Commonwealth Scholarship for his doctoral work in Geography.

Noormohamed is fluent in Canada's official languages (English and French) and also speaks Persian, Gujarati, Hindi, Kutchi, Urdu, and Arabic.^[3]

Professional experience

Noormohamed began his professional career by founding a technology consulting practice. In 2003, after working in this field for several years, Noormohamed began work in the public sector. He joined the Privy Council Office where he worked under two Liberal Prime Ministers (Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin), and worked on a series of issues, including governance and Canada's place in the world.

In 2006, Noormohamed was named Director of the Air India Review Secretariat and Senior Advisor to the Hon. Bob Rae. In this capacity Noormohamed was responsible for examining all related international and domestic proceedings, and for working closely with Canada's national security agencies, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Under Noormohamed's directorship, permanent memorials to the victims of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 were built, one in Vancouver's Stanley Park,^[4] the other in Toronto's Humber Bay East Park.

After his work on the Air India file, Noormohamed was appointed Director of Citizen Engagement for the federal government's Department of Public Safety. Noormohamed was responsible for establishing the community engagement policies for the Department, the RCMP and CSIS.

Noormohamed held the position of Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships for VANOC. Noormohamed was responsible for managing, among other things, Partnership Revenue, Government and International Relations as well as National and International Client Services. Noormohamed was a key contributor to VANOC's "Canada's Games" initiative, which sought to include all Canadians in the celebration, and was the lead negotiator behind the agreements that brought North Vancouver City and District into the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games family.

Noormohamed then led the restructuring of Serebra, an online learning technology company, as its President & Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors, creating new high-tech careers for local professionals. Serebra provides technology to deliver and manage professional training and development.^[5] His efforts led to the successful acquisition of Serebra by Bluedrop Performance Learning.

In 2012, Taleeb was named one of Vancouver top Forty under 40 by Business in Vancouver. ^[6]

Following Serebra, Taleeb served as a consultant at Jetsetter, a member of the Gilt Groupe, before joining HomeAway.com in 2012, and Farfetch in 2015.

He now serves as an Advisor to a number of emerging technology companies, including Tripping.com, pricemethod.com, and twyla.co.

Community involvement

Noormohamed's community service includes his contributions as a member of the Board of Directors of Lions Gate Hospital, the Koerner Foundation, and the Allan J MacEachen Institute of Public Policy. He has also served on the boards of directors of Covenant House Vancouver, and of the West Vancouver Community Centre. Noormohamed is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In 2010, Noormohamed was appointed as British Columbia's representative to the Board of Trustees of the Fathers of Confederation Lands Trust and the Confederation Centre of the Arts by Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz.

In addition to his work with these organizations, Noormohamed volunteers extensively within the Ismaili Muslim community and other community organizations.^[7]

In recognition of his various contributions to the community, Noormohamed was awarded the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award by the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean in 2007.^[8] He was also awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for his service to the community.

Political activity

In January 2011, Noormohamed announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Liberal Party of Canada for Member of Parliament in the British Columbia riding of North Vancouver. On March 5, 2011, the party held its nomination meeting and Noormohamed was nominated by approximately 400 members.^[9] Noormohamed was defeated by Conservative MP Andrew Saxton by broad margins in the federal election on May 2, 2011.^[10]

In 2012, Noormohamed was one of four co-chairs for the 2012 Biennial Convention for the Liberal Party, with MP Mauril Bélanger, former MP Bonnie Crombie, and Quebec candidate Noushig Eloyan.^[11]

References