TRAINING
SEMINARS

RESEARCH

CCL STAFF

ADVISORY
BOARD

PARTNERS

RESOURCES

FAQS

CONTACT
US

HOME

Sean O'Brien graduated from the University of Virginia with a Ph.D. in Environmental Science in 1994. While working on his dissertation on tropical forest ecology he spent ten months in Costa Rica and Panama. After leaving UVA he worked at Princeton University on temperate and tropical forest ecology. Dr. O'Brien has pursued several unusual opportunities for a scientist including working as the Finance Director of the Rush Holt for Congress campaign in 1996 in New Jersey (12th). He also completed an apprenticeship at a boutique investment banking firm in Princeton. Dr. O'Brien then returned to Princeton University to complete a project in the Ecology Department and then went to the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies to help organize several workshops, including one on scientists who follow nontraditional career paths. In the spring of 1998, he again worked as the Finance Director on the Rush Holt Campaign. Coinciding with the birth of his first child, Dr. O'Brien left the campaign after Holt (now a US Congressman) won the primary. Immediately prior to working at the Sorensen Institute, Dr. O'Brien was a Circuit Rider for the W. Alton Jones Foundation where he provided Internet and communications strategic planning assistance to grantees to the foundation. Dr. O'Brien is also a graduate of Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Charlottesville and the Citizen's Police Academy in Charlottesville. He is also president of his neighborhood association and a member of a group developing "Leadership Virginia," a program designed to foster understanding of issues and concerns among leaders from different parts of the state. He is excited to combine his work experience and lifelong interest in politics to help improve civic discourse, campaigns, governance, and the reputations of politicians in Virginia.