Based in New York, Umar is an active value added investor supplementing the different stages of a company’s business cycle, including start-up, growth and turnaround. Over the past eighteen years, Umar has been deeply involved in managing, acquiring and divesting public and private. He has in-depth experience in renewable and conventional energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, technology, food and services. Equipped with many years of operational business acumen, Umar usually takes an active role as Executive Chairman or CEO in most companies in which he has invested.

Umar is currently the Founder and CEO of Greenstone Management and Advisory Services, LLC, a company specializing in international business development, performance improvement and corporate finance advisory work. His past appointments include serving as Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors of several public companies, namely KFC Berhad, QSR Brands Berhad (Malaysia’s only fully-integrated food operator and dominating the country’s retail food industry), First Engineering Ltd (a leading manufacturer of ultra-precision moulds and plastic components for high-technology engineering applications with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, China and India), and ZingMobile Ltd (a pioneer for publishing value-added mobile content, services and applications). He also served as CEO of Reed Group Holdings Ltd (re-named as China Entertainment Sports Ltd) and Executive Director of Strike Engineering Ltd (providing a fully integrated range of mechanical and electrical engineering services, re-named as Magnus Energy Ltd). Prior to that, Umar was a Project Engineer with Alstom Group (France), where he managed power distribution projects, installing high-voltage switchgears in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and France. He also served as a Manager of Industry Development at the Singapore Polytechnic, supporting technology and knowledge transfer from engineering institutions to companies.

Umar has served as elected Member of Parliament in the Republic of Singapore as well as both Vice-Chairman and Chairman of Middle East Business Group at Singapore Business Federation. He has been an Advisor to several non-profit and non-government organizations, supplementing social, educational, and economic development initiatives.

A Fulbright Scholar, Umar earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, his Master of Education focused on Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona. He was a participant of the Owner-President Management Program at Harvard Business School. He writes and speaks fluent English, French, and Malay, and speaks basic Arabic and Hindi.