Background

Principal Robert O'Brien has broad experience navigating the economics, politics, and architecture of new development in urban environments.

Experience

Senior Housing Specialist

Robert spent eight years working for the statewide historic preservation nonprofit, running operations, handling fundraising and event organization, and mastering architectural history and building science.

Senior Economic Development Manager

With a focus on housing policy, Robert advised municipal members of the Greater Portland (ME) Council of Governments on how to comply with new State legislation on land use for housing production.

At the Maine Development Foundation, Robert provided technical assistance to ten Accredited Main Street communities and seventeen Network towns, while also providing economic revival strategies to ten industrial towns that had lost a major employment anchor.

Program Director for
the Maine Downtown Center &
the Forest Opportunity Roadmap

Assistant Director, Maine Preservation

Working for the national economic-development consultancy Camoin Associates, Robert led housing studies in cities and counties across the US.

Historic Preservation Board

Robert was appointed by the City Council to serve for nine years over three-year terms on the board that approved design compatibility in Portland, Maine's extensive historic districts. Robert served two years as chair of the board.

Elected Member,
Board of Public Education

Robert spent three years on the city's school board, overseeing a $100MM budget, 1,200 staff, and 7,500 students. School board service may be one of the most contentious political offices in the US.

Other Experience

• Planning Assistant, Town of Freeport, ME.

• Comprehensive Plan Writer for Newcastle, ME.

• Advisor and Fundraiser, Build Maine Conference, an affiliate of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

• Advocacy Committee, Portland Society for Architecture.

Education

• Sen. Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Maine, Master of Public Policy and Management.

• Bates College, Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Lewiston, ME.