One thing I remember about my parents was their ability to be present. My father traveled a lot for work, and had a pretty dangerous career during my early childhood. I can remember him coming home to us in a certain snow-covered area of the United States, having been in some exotic location overseas. It didn’t matter that he had been gone, but it mattered that when he came home, he was present. We moved quite frequently and had the chance to live in a foreign country, as well as travel quite extensively at a young age and in to adulthood. I believe that these experiences shaped me and gave me a unique perspective as an adult now with my own children. Today, the knowledge that I can share with my children comes from my unique experiences growing up.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Roger Duthie, Founder & CEO, BearFish Sports Marketing and the Former Head of Global Sponsorships, Emirates Airline. Mr. Duthie is not only a very successful businessman, but he also appears to have mastered the skill of work-life balance and being present with his own children. He is a globally recognized leader in sports sponsorship and brand strategy, with over thirty years of experience delivering high-impact marketing platforms across global sports and entertainment. During his nineteen-year career with Emirates Airline, Roger was instrumental in transforming the brand into a global powerhouse through strategic sponsorships and integrated marketing campaigns. He now has his own consultancy, BearFish Sports Marketing as well as his own sports apparel brand, BearFish Sports Apparel. His signature line of lightweight, breathable caps has gained popularity among athletes and lifestyle enthusiasts looking for stylish performance wear under the sun.
Roger is originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but he now lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I spoke with him about how he ended up in Dubai, and he explained that he and his new wife moved to Dubai from the Bahamas. He explained that while living in Freeport was an amazing experience, he wanted to start his professional career rather than just playing tennis, soccer, and rugby on a tropical island while being broke. He saw a television show segment on Dubai and it intrigued him. He decided, after five fun years in the Bahamas, to take a job with a PR company in Dubai. He worked for a few months with the PR company and his boss asked him if he wanted to join Emirates Airline, where, by that time, he was the head of the communications department. They were starting a new department in sponsorships. Roger applied, got the job, and had a wonderful nineteen year career with them helping them build the brand globally using sports as a marketing and communications tool. It worked – as the Head of Global Sponsorships, Roger oversaw a portfolio valued at over $300 million, leading the development, negotiation, and execution of major partnerships across football, tennis, golf, motorsport, rugby, and cricket. His work included long-term collaborations with the ATP, FIFA, ICC, Formula 1, and premier football clubs such as Arsenal, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, and Benfica. These partnerships not only boosted global brand exposure for Emirates but also helped drive record levels of consumer engagement, media value, and ROI.
Roger’s stewardship of the sponsorship portfolio led to Emirates being ranked the 4th most valuable airline brand globally from 2017–2019, and among the Top 200 global brands by Brand Finance. Under his guidance, Emirates generated over $4 billion in international media exposure from golf and tennis partnerships alone. He also directed the Dubai Football Challenge, organizing a 42,000-seat event featuring elite international clubs. His hands-on approach to partnership activations ensured Emirates was always a standout brand presence across events, digital media, and consumer touchpoints.
Roger started BearFish Sports Marketing because of what he experienced on the brand side at Emirates. Time and again, they would be sold to by senior agency leaders, only for them to disappear once the deal was signed. The work would be handed down, the accountability would fade, and the original thinking they bought into often got diluted. As a brand spending serious money, Roger wanted to work with smaller, agile teams, good people who genuinely understood what they were trying to achieve and stayed involved throughout. Instead, the market felt crowded with too many “sharks” chasing Emirates’ budget, and that never sat right with him. Eventually, he decided to step away and build the kind of consultancy he would have wanted to hire.
That experience shapes everything they do at BearFish Sports Marketing. Roger explained that most consultants come from agency or rights-holder backgrounds; he spent nineteen years on the buying side as Global Head of Sponsorship at Emirates, managing over $300M per annum across thirty plus sports and making the final yes-or-no decisions with senior leaders. Roger knows what brands look for because he was the one approving the invoices.
Combined with a global network built over two decades and a boutique, founder-led model, BearFish offers something different: clients work directly with Roger from strategy through negotiation and activation planning. The person who closes the deal is the person who delivers it ensuring accountability, continuity, and partnerships built on trust rather than transactions.
When people ask him about Dubai, he tells them without hesitation that it’s the greatest place in the world to live, and he genuinely could never imagine leaving. What makes Dubai special is not just the skyline or the ambition, but the culture and the people. It is an incredibly welcoming and diverse city where people from all over the world live side by side with respect and openness. He explains that the government’s focus is clearly on the welfare, safety, and quality of life of its citizens and residents, and that shows through world class infrastructure, outstanding healthcare and education, and a city with little to no crime. It is a place where families feel safe, professionals can thrive, and opportunity feels limitless. He went on to say that the lifestyle is equally unmatched. You can play almost any sport imaginable and enjoy food from virtually every culture in the world. He still plays in a men’s baseball league there, and there are also communities for ice hockey, Aussie Rules football, Irish hurling, rugby, cricket, and many more. Add in wonderful beaches, an incredible sports and events scene, and year round energy, and Dubai becomes very hard to beat. It combines global diversity with a real sense of community and ambition with humanity. For Roger, it is home, and he truly believes there is no better place in the world to live.
“Always lead by example. It’s not that complicated or hard. Always be there for the team. Let the team have a life. Family is always more important than work, so enjoy.”
Mr. Duthie travelled a lot while at Emirates and he still does. He had two children in Dubai, Isabella and Oliver. He always tells younger friends who are having kids that to be present is the most important thing in the world to maintain a lifelong relationship with your kids. So when he wasn’t travelling, he made sure he went to every swim meet, every play, and every school assembly. He coached his son’s baseball teams and drove his daughter to ballet and piano. He explained that parents become taxi drivers when kids are young and doing activities, but that’s the time you get to groove with Prince in the car with Isabella or talk in depth about the Toronto Maple Leafs with Ollie. Roger explained that if his job ever got in the way of his relationship with his children, he wouldn’t have done it. Eventually he was able to hire younger, single males and females who took on more of the business travel so he could stay grounded.
“I am the happiest person I know. Sadly I’ve seen too many people pass away over the years far too young, so I continue to embrace life.”
Mr. Duthie is a great example of a family man who balances his very successful career with a wide range of activities, to include travel, sports, and being present with his friends and family. He described his childhood as growing up in a blended sports-minded family. He explained that the main reason he started to travel was because one of his stepbrothers passed away at a very young age but his exuberance for life, adventure, and travel provided the impetus to move away from Toronto and see the world. The greatest advice he can offer is to pursue travel and education. These things have shaped his career and the person he is today.
If you would like to learn more about Roger Duthie, BearFish Sports Marketing, and BearFish Sports Apparel, please visit bearfishsportsmarketing.com.
