2009 Speaker: Chris O’Brien
As Senior Director of the Responsible Purchasing Network, at the non-profit Center for a New American Dream, Chris works with government, corporate, and non-profit purchasers to advance socially and environmentally responsible procurement. In his dozen years of corporate responsibility experience he served as Director of the Co-op America Business Network and the Fair Trade Federation. In dozens of public presentations he has addressed thousands of purchasing and sustainability professionals on designing and implementing successful green purchasing programs.
He is also part-owner of Seven Bridges, the world's only supplier of all-organic and fair trade beer-brewing and coffee-roasting supplies (www.BrewOrganic.com). O’Brien is author of the award-winning book Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World -- the book is currently in production as a documentary film.
He has traveled much of the world researching local brewing traditions, from the four corners of Africa, to the heart of the Amazon, and the mountains of Vietnam. He did a short stint as a quasi-professional brewer at the Zululand Brewing Company in Eshowe, South Africa and his beer writing appears in places such as American Brewer, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, Zymurgy and New Brewer.
He has spoken at dozens of events, including the Craft Brewers Conference, the Great American Beer Festival, the Master Brewers Association of America, the Green Festivals, and many more.
He blogs at BeerActivist.com, where he writes about his two favorite things: drinking beer and saving the world.