Key Influencer – Zain Velji – Co-Director of Naheed Nenshi’s Leadership Campaign

Source: LinkedIn

A strategist, business owner, and community volunteer, Zain Velji is a Partner at Northweather, a strategy and marketing firm focused on charities, non-profits, causes, and advocacy. Zain is co-creator and host of the highly-rated political podcast The Strategists (and its sister podcast, You The People), which dissects the strategies of political campaigns and parties and inspired the CBC TV and radio panel of the same name. Zain has worked on multiple political campaigns, including former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Zain Velji is the man behind Nenshi’s political brand. Involved in each of Nenshi’s three successful mayoral campaigns, Zain was the campaign manager for the 2017 re-election campaign of then-Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.  Zain was also actively involved in the Alberta NDP’s campaigns in 2019 and 2023. 

Zain received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Alberta, during which he received the four-year Johnston Legacy Scholarship. In 2018, Zain was named one of Avenue Magazine's Top 40 under 40, and in 2020 was named one of the University of Alberta's Alumni Horizon Awards.