Elizabeth O’Brien is senior director of the Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Program, a program dedicated to measurably impacting military spouse unemployment and underemployment through HOH's overarching strategies of grassroots engagement and public-private partnerships.
O’Brien joined the HOH team in 2014 and evolved the military spouse program’s event-centric focus to become a comprehensive resource at the forefront of military spouse employment. In addition to overseeing the program’s research and strategic operations, she co-chairs the Military Spouse Employment Advisory Council, a coalition of companies with innovative spouse recruitment and retention initiatives.
Under O’Brien’s direction, the military spouse program launched the Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zones (MSEEZ), a national initiative to encourage and codify communities’ commitment to impacting military spouse unemployment.
O'Brien is a member of the SBA Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, was a guest lecturer at the 2018 Association of Defense Communities Summit, and frequently appears on national and regional media speaking on military spouse employment.
Before joining the Chamber, O'Brien served on the staff of several universities and colleges, including the United States Military Academy, Hofstra University, the University of Hawaii, and Hawaii Pacific University. She is a graduate of Hofstra University.