Prior to joining Google, Ali was one of the most awarded creative strategists in the world. Before jumping ships to the judging side of awards, he was named among the Top 20 Planners Worldwide by the Drum's Big Won Rankings in 2018, MENA Planner of the Year by the B&W Report in 2017 and Campaign Magazine’s 30 under 30 in 2016. Today, he operates at the intersection of data, tech and creativity to help brands and agencies across MENA, Russia, Turkey and South Africa solve critical business challenges through prototyping and testing. The rest of his time, he spends explaining to people the difference between Google Maps and Waze.