Kevin O'Brien

Reserve Manager

Professional Experience:

Kevin has over two decades of experience working in the Connecticut coastal management sector after completing a graduate degree in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami in 1998.  He joined the CT National Estuarine Research Reserve in 2023 after working as a Supervisor at the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.  While there, he was involved with many coastal related projects including establishing a seafloor mapping effort, helping develop the Long Island Sound Blue Plan, and serving as the state lead in the NOAA designation process for the CT NERR, working closely with Jamie Vaudrey at the University of Connecticut.   He has worked directly with many federal, regional, state, and local partnerships that focused on the health and sustainability of the ecological and human-use resources of Long Island Sound, and is looking forward to helping the CT NERR tackle critical environmental issues that impact both local and national scales.

Favorite memory of Long Island Sound?

“As a life-long Nutmegger (born and raised in Torrington) my family would travel to the Connecticut coast for summer vacation when I was growing up.  I have vivid memories of looking at all the things that would wash up on beach, crabbing from the jetty by the cottage we rented, learning about things like the tides by watching my dad show how me how it could move a toy boat back and forth.  It’s pretty cool to know that some of those early childhood experiences have come full circle in my professional career.”