STEVE MALLER Both of Zaileen Janmohamed’s parents fled East Africa while still young: her father, Alaudin, from Uganda during Idi Amin’s reign; her mother, Naseem, from Tanzania during civil war. They arrived separately in Vancouver, eventually met, married and raised a family.
“They spoke the language but didn’t have any idea of how to get around or how to make money, and they had never seen snow before,” said Janmohamed, who left Vancouver to pursue an MBA at UMass, landed an agency job working on Visa thanks to her analytics bent, and then jumped to the brand in 2010. “All the things we take for granted, they had to figure out. My mom tells me stories of looking for work, not even having a car, finding a job to make a living to support five brothers and sisters.
“It’s a village that brought me up: parents and aunts and uncles and cousins. That ties back a lot to the way I do things today.”
As head of Olympics management at Visa, Janmohamed oversees a large and complex international sponsorship with a style that she hopes fosters collaboration not only across sports and borders, but also within her own company.
“I would have thought I had to be a certain type of person to be in the position I’m in today, but I know now that’s not true,” she said. “I can be open to criticism, open to discourse. I can have an open style and still get things done.
“I will always be the person in the room that forces people to think a little differently, push a little harder, be open-minded and be curious. I want the least experienced person in the room to feel as good about speaking up as the most experienced person in the room. That’s what people did for me.”
— Bill King
Zaileen Janmohamed
Visa | Head of Olympics management
Age: 38
Where born: Vancouver
Education: Simon Fraser University (BASc, kinesiology); University of Massachusetts (MBA/MS, sport management)
Family: Husband, Arif; children, Aydin (5), Ihsan (2)
Advice I’d give to my younger self: You can be true to who you are and still achieve everything you want to achieve.
2016 will be a good year if: We can get through what for Visa will be a really interesting Summer Olympic Games.
Person in the industry I'd like meet: Author Michael Lewis.
I'd like to change jobs for a day with: Mike Babcock, leading the Canadian national hockey team.
Group supported: The Aga Khan Foundation, which supports third-world, developing countries.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve done: My mom said, “Girls don’t play hockey, Zaileen.” I hid my gear outside and would go play without telling my parents.
You'd be surprised to know: I was forced to take ballet for way too many years.
