Derek Oliver is a private equity investor with deep experience across buyout investing and M&A. He is currently pursuing his MBA at Columbia Business School, where he is a Robert F. Smith Scholar, Toigo Fellow, and NAIC Fellow. This summer, he is working in private equity at Vista Equity Partners, focusing on enterprise software investments.
Prior to Columbia, Derek worked at Audax Private Equity, a ~$16 billion AUM middle-market private equity firm. There, he executed over 15 transactions across the industrials and business services sectors and supported the firm’s first investment thesis in the air filtration space.
Derek began his career in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, where he advised on over $20 billion of M&A transactions in the Consumer Retail Group across New York and London. He also gained early-stage investing experience as a summer investor at Harlem Capital, focusing on diverse founders.
Beyond investing, Derek is passionate about expanding access to finance careers. He has led mentoring, coaching, and strategic initiatives with AltFinance, SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity), and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) – helping develop the next generation of diverse investors.
He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Howard University and will receive his MBA from Columbia Business School in 2026.