Umair Jaffar is the Executive Director of Small World Music, one of Canada’s pioneering and most significant presenters of culturally-diverse music. He has worked in curatorial and management roles at major cultural institutions including the Aga Khan Museum and Harbourfront Centre.  He is a fellow at Toronto Art Council's Cultural Leaders Lab and Business / Arts Executive Leadership program.

Prior to immigrating to Canada, he was the CEO & Artistic Director for IPAC (Institute for Preservation of Art and Culture), a Pakistan-based non-profit social enterprise that focused on developing sustainable solutions for preserving and promoting indigenous, folk and traditional performing arts.

Umair also serves as a board member for several non-profit art organizations including CAPACOA (Canadian Arts Presenting Association), North York Arts and Musiconnect Asia. He has an MBA from University of Adelaide, Australia and a MSc Cultural Anthropology from University of Oxford, UK.