Noman “Nomi” Ali, President of Strategic Growth for Research Now, has been honored with Marketing EDGE’s 2017 Rising Stars Award. The award, in its tenth year, is given to marketers age 40 and younger who have attained extraordinary professional achievement creating new business models and practices while also devoting their time and talent to mentor students and marketers starting out in their careers.

In 2007, Nomi co-founded Peanut Labs, an innovative company that provides monetization and gamification for social media sites, online games, and other communities through advertising and market research surveys. Peanut Labs has won numerous accolades including: the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARFs) Innovation Award and Silver Innovation Award, Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies,” and the American Marketing Association Foundation’s (AMA) David K. Harden Award. Ali also personally received the ARF’s Innovation Award for Research Distinction (ARF “Great Mind”).

With the acquisition of Peanut Labs by Research Now in 2010, Ali, as CEO of Peanut Labs, led the company’s continued growth. In 2017, Peanut Labs research data products and services were integrated into Research Now and Ali was named President of Strategic Growth for Research Now and Chairman of Peanut Labs. In his new role, Ali continues to explore new data-based advertising and loyalty marketing business opportunities.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Ali is dedicated to an array of efforts devoted to guiding the next generation of marketing leaders, including: participating as a mentor, speaker, and advisor with OPEN Silicon Valley, a not-for-profit focused primarily on the promotion of entrepreneurship and business leadership in the Pakistani-American community; regularly dedicating time to meet with students and young professionals to give feedback on their ideas and plans; establishing and building his own outreach program to connect universities, students, and technology innovators under the working title, “Global Connect;” and participating as a speaker at third-party mentorship events hosted at Google, Stanford, the Computer History Museum, and more.

One of six Rising Stars honorees, Ali will be presented the award at Marketing EDGE’s annual award dinner in New York at the PlayStation Theater on June 6.

To learn more about Marketing Edge and this year’s Rising Stars winners, please visit http://edgeawards.org/#honorees.