Brian O'Connor

About

Brian O’Connor was previously a Veteran Fellow at the Hoover Institution 2022–23.

Brian O'Connor began his career in the US Marine Corps, where he earned marine of the quarter and meritorious promotion honors while serving as an avionics program manager and martial instructor during two overseas campaigns—Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. As a Marine Corps College Fund recipient, O’Connor earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from Louisiana State University and later his MBA from the University of Notre Dame before being selected to IBM’s prestigious Summit Leadership Program, where he began his IT career. After earning top sales honors, including multiple Sales Eminence Awards, presented to IBM’s top performers, he worked at Salesforce before joining the Chicago Cubs during the team’s historic Wrigley Field transformation. Returning to his IT roots and hometown, O’Connor and his family returned to Sacramento, joining EMC during the historic Dell EMC technology acquisition. He was tasked with managing and leading IT transformation within California agencies as enterprise account leader. Seeing an opportunity to have a broader impact on the Northern California business community, O’Connor became founder and principal of growth at Veteran Enhanced Technology Solutions, a Sacramento-based technology consulting firm focused on leading operational excellence while serving as a bridge and foundation to successfully transition veterans and people from underserved communities into technical roles .