Trailblazer Recipients
#5 Kathleen O’Brien
Kathleen O’Brien, LEED AP, CSBA, MA E&C is a nationally recognized leader in the field of sustainability, having been in the field as an educator, strategic planner, writer, and project consultant for nearly 30 years. With her firm O’Brien & Company, Kathleen has been instrumental in development of green building certification and educational programs, policies, demonstration projects, and as such a key player in the market commercialization of green building and development in the Northwest. She is a prolific writer, having authored dozens of articles and technical publications on sustainable building topics. In 2008, she published “The Northwest Green Home Primer.”
She has won several regional leadership awards including: Kitsap County YWCA Woman of Achievement (2001), Sustainable Seattle’s Outstanding Leadership Award (2006), Kitsap County Earth Day Award for Environmental Leadership (2007), Cascadia Green Building Council Fellow (2008) and Seattle Community Colleges District Innovative Educator (2009). In 2011, when O’Brien & Company was celebrating 20 years at the forefront, she was honored for her lifetime achievements by King County Executive Dow Constantine (who named September 13, 2011 “Kathleen O’Brien Day”), Governor Christine Gregoire, and Congressman Jay Inslee.
Transferring ownership of O’Brien & Company to a team of employee principals in 2011, Kathleen’s focus turned to providing the benefit of her leadership experience and scholarship to green building advocates called to create a sustainable future through leadership. She is now dedicated fulltime to the Emerge Leadership Project through training, mentoring, and speaking. She is currently working on a book on the topic. For more information, see www.emergeleadership.net
Author: The Northwest Green Home Primer
Editor: Building Capacity Blog
