As Director of the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC), Mr. O’Brien leads a talented team to assist states and local communities to respond to Department of Defense activity and support its missions. 

In this capacity, he directs numerous efforts to create safe places for our members and their families, to include; a $1.2 billion program to improve condition and capacity problems at public schools on military installations and the education of over 11,000 military dependents annually; a $300 million program to improve transportation access to major medical facilities by wounded warriors, their dependents, and our personnel; a program across 77 installations and ranges to remove civilian encroachment impairments to the local mission; an industry resiliency effort in collaboration with the National Institutes and Standards and Technology and the Department’s Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Program to enhance the economic and cyber resiliency of our nation’s supply chains; and, a program of nearly $200 million in outside the fence investments in support of the Department’s Indo-Pacific efforts.

Prior to joining OLDCC, Mr. O’Brien was a Presidential Management Intern with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; spent time on the Hill working on community and economic development-related issues; and an Assistant Business Developer for the City of Duluth, MN, where he assisted with the reuse of a closed air base; supported the conversion of a former steel plant; and co-drafted the State's first enterprise zone bill. He also served as a citizen representative to the Duluth Joint Airport Zoning Board.

He has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Urban Affairs and Political Science from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he graduated "cum laude" and as a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society. He also received a Master’s of Science degree in Public Management and Policy Analysis from the School of Urban and Public Affairs at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he graduated "with distinction," student-taught organizational management, and was elected to Pi Alpha Alpha.  Mr. O'Brien is certified as an "Economic Development Finance Professional" by the National Development Council and graduated from the Federal Executive Institute’s “Leadership for a Democratic Society” as well as Harvard Law School’s “Program on Negotiation.” He is the recipient of the 2017 Federal Leadership in Economic Development Programs from the International Economic Development Council, and was received into the Ancient Order of Chamorri from the Territory of Guam.