Emerging from Solid Roots
Amir Omar’s story ties indelibly to the notion that the American dream is alive and well. His father grew up in a small village in Palestine where his older brothers took on extra work to help him become the first in his family to get an education, allowing him to earn his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in the U.S. Amir’s mother was born in Iran and grew up desiring to learn what the world had to offer. From an early age, she dreamt of coming to America to gain a world-class education.
Years later the two met, fell in love and got married… something that only could happen here in America. Amir was born as a first-generation American just outside Milwaukee, WI, and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. In South Texas, he learned firsthand how hard work, personal responsibility, and determination helped his parents make a better life for his family. While Amir’s story is unique, it shares some points in common with many in Richardson.
Growing Up
Throughout his childhood, Amir was taught the importance of giving back to his community and had those lessons reinforced by his parents own example. He saw on a weekly basis one kindness or another that his parents would take part in that quietly helped others, and he quickly found joy in that service.
It was the summer before his senior year of high school that Amir lost his Mother after a courageous battle with cancer. It was a devastating blow, and for a time, he was lost without his greatest advocate until he began to recognize that her legacy could live on through his service. He was determined to make a lasting difference and took on that challenge becoming Student Council President and the voice of his classmates on multiple challenging issues.
After graduating from Harlingen High School, Omar attended Texas A&M University where he majored in Industrial Distribution. While there, he joined the Corps of Cadets, which helped him develop his leadership skills and appreciation for those who serve on the front lines of their communities and our country.
Developing Leadership
Early in his career, Amir worked in the telecom and technology solutions industries in a number of leadership roles for well over a decade. Among other companies, Amir worked at telecom giants AT&T and Verizon while becoming more connected to the City of Richardson.
Amir graduated from Leadership Richardson Class 24, FBI Citizens Academy, and Richardson Citizens Police & Fire Academy. He was honored and awarded for his volunteer efforts in the community by the Richardson Chamber at their annual banquet in 2009. Omar has previously been a member of the Richardson Rotary and Richardson Chamber of Commerce, and served on the Methodist Richardson Medical Center Foundation Board. In 2012, Amir was named a finalist and ultimately the winner of One Man Dallas as a byproduct of his extraordinary service to the community. Later that year Amir was named Regional Community Leader of the Year by the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce.
Amir was elected to and served as the Place 7 Council Member for the City of Richardson in 2009 and was re-elected for a second term in 2011. Key assignments during his tenure included: Service on the Retail and RISD/PISD Committees, Liaison to the Environmental Advisory Commission, and Liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission. In addition to actions that contributed to the quality of governance, Amir kept an eye toward service gained in his youth, creating a new partnering relationship with faith-based organizations to develop a Community Garden Program. The result? Five community gardens that have cumulatively donated more than 100,000 pounds of fresh and organic vegetables to individuals and families challenged by a series of difficult economic cycles. Amir is most closely tied to the creation of “Tree the Town”, which was the largest tree-planting initiative in North Texas history powered by donations from commercial and residential community members vs the City. He took that program across the North Texas region, leading 40 regional cities to join “Tree North Texas” which ultimately resulted in a commitment from these cities to plant three million trees during a ten-year period.
Building on Integrity
Amir’s work on the council included a major test of his principled leadership. For more than 100 years, Richardson residents elected seven city council members who then went into closed chambers and emerged with a “selected Mayor”. In running for re-election in 2011, he made a promise to do all he could to change the way Richardson handled the position of Mayor by leading the charge for a directly elected Mayor.
After his re-election, Amir was met with tremendous opposition to his advocacy for a direct mayoral election. However, he felt strongly that his promise to voters was more important and also believed residents were right to want to directly vote for their mayor. In November 2012, after keeping his promise and after a 75% victory of the ballot initiative to change the city charter, he announced his candidacy for Richardson’s first directly elected mayor. After unprecedented and proven misleading personal smears on his character, the old guard was able to have their candidate, Laura Maczka (now Laura Jordan) become Mayor.
Despite this loss, Amir persisted in giving back to his community during the next ten years. He was asked to become his neighborhood association’s President and accepted the role. He led the Duck Creek neighborhood association for two years before passing on the responsibilities to members of the association’s very active board. He then took on bringing back Tree the Town by personally buying and planting trees across Richardson, starting with planting trees for individuals who lost countless mature trees in the tornado that damaged hundreds of homes in southeast Richardson in 2019.
Amir completed his master’s in business administration in 2013 from the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson and shortly thereafter used his education and professional experiences in the water conservation sector. He has worked for the nation’s leader in smart irrigation, HydroPoint Data Systems, for almost ten years now as an executive for the company. In 2019, he became their first Senior Executive who lived outside of California and began taking on operational roles within the company as SVP of Customer Operations and now SVP of Customer Success and Strategic Services.
Amir is blessed to have three adult children, Javid, Alaina and Anson. He and his wife, Alika, live in NE Richardson in the Sharp’s Farm neighborhood near Breckinridge Park with their adopted pups, Birdie and Diesel.
