Michael O’Brien is a recognized strategic and technology leader in the nonprofit and association sectors. He is passionate about transformation and enabling organizations to thrive.
Michael has consulted for a diverse set of organizations including Ford’s Theater, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and many more.
A strong strategic thinker, Michael is able to work across organizations to help create shared visions and change culture. Having performed several turnarounds, he is able to find clarity in chaos, helping organizations realize a clear path forward.
Michael’s services include:
- Innovation Process Creation. Michael helps organizations develop innovation processes that allow organizations to minimize risk, experiment often and fail quickly. He helps in developing innovation cultures and creating space for innovation.
- Better Project Management. Michael helps organizations develop standard project management practices tailored to their culture to help ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget. This process can also help align project selection and prioritization with the business.
- Facilitation. Michael is a skilled meeting facilitator. He is especially good at helping organizations learn how to do systematic retrospections, a process that allows them to learn from the past and apply those lessons to the future.
- Technology Assessments and Multi-year plans. By assessing people, processes, and systems, Michael provides organizations a path forward to better align technology to the business. Michael is a cloud computing expert and can assess organizational maturity and readiness for cloud computing.
- Technology Advocate. Acting as a technical general contractor, Michael can help organizations chose vendors and negotiate contracts to help organizations make the best choices and negotiate contracts with the best terms and pricing.
- Executive Coaching/Mentoring. Michael has several clients in different roles that he helps work through professional challenges and improve their effectiveness.
- System Selections and RFPs. Michael has significant experience in helping organizations select systems including AMS, LMS, CMS, CRM, etc. Michael’s full-time job for many years was writing RFPs for the USDA and working through the selection process. While he brings a largely scaled-down process to his clients, he has a fundamental understanding of how to choose the best vendors.
- Virtual CIO (vCIO). Many organizations need strategic direction but are too small to afford a full-time Chief Information Officer. Michael can help provide these services to ensure that technology decisions are aligned with the business.
- Public Speaking. Michael is a passionate and engaging speaker with expertise in areas including innovation, leadership, project governance, cloud, and other topics.
- Effective Presentation Training. Michael is on a mission to help rescue the world from mediocre PowerPoint presentations. If you would like to increase your skills, the skills of your department, or your organization, he can help. To get a glimpse of his style and approach, you can read Avoid the PowerPoint Trap! How to Give an Effective Presentation.
- Executive Recruiting. Michael has done executive recruiting for over ten years and has a strong track record.
If you are interested in an engagement, you may contact me by email or 703.629.4332.