Dr. Jeffrey O’Brien
CEO
For more than two-decades, Dr. Jeffrey O’Brien has been committed to maximizing the leadership potential of high school, collegiate, and professional athletes with a specific focus on personal growth and development. Dr. O’Brien is one of the nation’s leading sport-based social justice educators and provides technical assistance, training, and curriculum development for high school, college and professional sports, educational institutions, corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations and community groups.
Dr. O’Brien’s work within athletics is extensive. Jeff has developed and delivered leadership and social justice trainings for thousands of student-athletes, coaches, and administrators at over 150 universities, including leading conference-wide training relationships with the Southeastern Conference, A-10 Conference and Big Ten Conference. Jeff has worked with dozens of professional sport teams and leagues including the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR and MLL. In all of these interactive trainings and workshops, leadership provides the foundation for entrée into a variety of personal development areas.
Dr. O’Brien is the creator of Huddle Up educational programming targeting gender violence, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and leadership development. He is the former director of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) National Partnership, the first and largest gender violence prevention initiative in college and professional athletics in North America, and the first to utilize the “bystander” approach.
Dr. O’Brien led the development of the Institute’s DEIB-infused Culture & Climate Assessment model that has been implemented across the pro and college sport landscape. He is the NCAA Leadership Development lead consultant (2014-Present) conceptualizing, developing, and delivering the NCAA Leadership Forum facilitator’s training, student-athlete Color Team sessions, and Leadership Academy Workshops. He works with the NCAA to infuse all aspects of this work with active learning strategies that maximize interactive dialogue to enhance participant learning. Since 2013, he has served as the Director of the Huskies Leadership Academy (HLA) at Northeastern University while providing technical assistance for a handful of additional athletic departments regarding leadership development.
Outside of his work with athletics, Jeff serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on bystander intervention and gender violence for all branches of the US military and has developed and delivered domestic and sexual violence prevention education for US military members on many dozens of bases in Iraq, Bahrain, Germany, England, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska and throughout the CONUS. He is the co-creator of the US Air Force’s Bystander Intervention Training (BIT). BIT is a leadership model and was delivered Air Force-wide to more than 350,000 Airmen. Dr. O’Brien is an Adjunct Professor for the University of Central Florida’s Sport Business Management Minor, teaching “Diversity and Social Issues in Sport” since Fall 2015.
He holds a BA in English, MS in Education from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Florida. Jeff was a decorated football student-athlete and inducted into the Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He lives in Orlando, FL with his wife & partner Jennifer Williams and their sons Parker and Alexander.
Dr. Jeffrey O’Brien was named the CEO of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice in August
2022, after serving as Institute Vice President for the previous seven years. For more than two-
decades, Dr. O’Brien has been committed to maximizing the leadership potential of high school,
collegiate and professional athletes with a specific focus on personal growth and development.
Dr. O’Brien is one of the nation’s leading sport-based social justice educators and provides
thought leadership, technical assistance, training, and curriculum development for high school,
college and professional sports, educational institutions, corporations, government agencies,
non-profit organizations and community groups.
Dr. O’Brien’s work within athletics is extensive. He has developed and delivered leadership and
social justice trainings for thousands of student-athletes, coaches, and administrators at over
150 universities, including leading conference-wide training relationships with the Southeastern
Conference, A-10 Conference and Big Ten Conference. Dr. O’Brien has impacted dozens of
professional sport teams and leagues, including the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR and
MLL. In all of these interactive trainings and workshops, leadership provides the foundation for
entrée into a variety of personal development areas.
Dr. O’Brien is the creator of Huddle Up educational programming targeting gender violence,
diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and leadership development. He is the former
director of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) National Partnership, the first and largest
gender violence prevention initiative in college and professional athletics in North America, and
the first to utilize the “bystander” approach.
Dr. O’Brien led the development of the Institute’s DEIB-infused Culture & Climate Assessment
model that has been implemented across the pro and college sport landscape. He is the NCAA
Leadership Development lead consultant (2014-Present) conceptualizing, developing, and
delivering the NCAA Leadership Forum facilitator’s training, student-athlete Color Team
sessions, and Leadership Academy Workshops. He works with the NCAA to infuse all aspects
of this work with active learning strategies that maximize interactive dialogue to enhance
participant learning. Since 2013, he has served as the Director of the Huskies Leadership
Academy (HLA) at Northeastern University while providing technical assistance for a handful of
additional athletic departments regarding leadership development.
Outside of his work with athletics, Dr. O’Brien serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on
bystander intervention and gender violence for all branches of the US military and has
developed and delivered domestic and sexual violence prevention education for US military
members on many dozens of bases in Iraq, Bahrain, Germany, England, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska
and throughout the CONUS. He is the co-creator of the US Air Force’s Bystander Intervention
Training (BIT). BIT is a leadership model and was delivered Air Force-wide to more than
350,000 Airmen. Dr. O’Brien is an Adjunct Professor for the University of Central Florida’s Sport
Business Management Minor, teaching “Diversity and Social Issues in Sport” since Fall 2015.
He holds a BA in English, MS in Education from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York and a
Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Florida. Dr. O’Brien was a
decorated football student-athlete and inducted into the Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame in
1999. He lives in Orlando, FL with his wife & partner, Jennifer Williams, and their sons Parker
and Alexander.
Kathy Behrens, Hall of Fame Inductee
No matter what sport you play, watch or love, one thing is for sure, sports can change the world.
