Executive Director, USAAmnesty International
Paul O’Brien is the Executive Director at Amnesty International USA, a human rights organization of 240,000 members and 125 staff since April 2021. Paul developed AIUSA’s strategic framework, rebuilt its leadership and redesigned AIUSA’s member engagement. In his career he has done human rights research and advocacy in more than 50 countries, including most recently Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Before Amnesty, Paul co-led Oxfam’s worldwide influencing network’s advocacy efforts during the Covid pandemic and led Oxfam America’s advocacy with the US government and corporations. He has been an advisor to the President of Afghanistan, the Africa Policy Advisor for CARE, and an organizer in Nairobi’s informal urban settlements. He was the President of the Echoing Green Foundation, a litigator in New York for Cravath, Swaine and Moore. He has a JD from Harvard Law School. Before joining Amnesty, he published “Power Switch” How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality.”