Firas Omer graduated from Derryfield in 2011 and went on to attend Middlebury College for a degree in neuroscience. After that, he landed an internship in Burlington, VT for a startup called Faraday. This internship is where he found his passion for tech and data. Once his internship ended, Omer moved to Oakland, CA to work at Plaid. He loved the job but his role was mostly in customer service, which is not exactly what he wanted to be doing. Omer left Plaid after a year and started a new job at ValueStream Ventures as an investment associate. ValueStream Ventures helps and supports other small data companies by investing and growing them. Omer’s responsibility is to find these small data companies and get them connected with ValueStream Ventures. Omer enjoys his job and appreciates that his role allows him to meet new people everyday.
Omer was also nominated to be a part of the HBCUvc Group, and recently was named one of their 2021 Emerging Venture Leaders. HBCUvc is a non-profit organization that helps educate students studying venture capital and technology entrepreneurship while attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Omer wants to help increase the diversity and inclusion within his field as well as become a mentor to those who want to one day have a career in his line of work. Omer noted he was given a lot to help him succeed, which is why he wants to “pay it forward.”
“Derryfield was the reason that I could survive at Middlebury. DS instilled in me responsibility, leadership and maturity. It is also the reason I am a great writer, because the teachers at DS really set the standard and I have continued to carry that standard ever since.” – Firas Omer ‘11