After a career as a professional economist and banker, Oster was Chief Financial Officer of several companies which he helped take public. He is now focused on philanthropic activities after a 30 year career as a private investor working with other private and institutional investors in all phases of venture and private equity investing. He has been a founding investor and director of many venture and search fund companies and continues as an advisor to several investment partnerships.

He received a BA in economics from Occidental College in 1963 and an MA and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965 and 1967, respectively. He is an Overseer and former Chairman of the Nominiting Committee of The Hoover Institution at Stanford University, member and former Board Chairman of Summit Public Schools, a charter public high school management organization with schools in California and Washington, and Chairman of Spirit of America, an organization that enables American citizens to support our diplomats and troops in the field.