Brigid O’Brien, PhD

Managing Partner

Brigid O’Brien is a Managing Partner with the Planetary Health team at RA Capital Management. Brigid’s primary responsibility is to lead investments in private companies that are developing innovative solutions to address climate change and environmental sustainability. Prior to RA Capital, Brigid was the Head of Venture Investments for BHP Ventures, the internal venture capital unit within the world’s largest mining company, where her investment mandate was to help the decarbonization of BHP’s operations and to improve the sustainability of resource extraction. Brigid was responsible for starting the venture fund and led investments in multiple sectors, including advanced analytics platforms, biomining and bioremediation, novel chemical leaching, long-duration energy storage, traceability of products, carbon removal, and green steel. Prior to BHP, Brigid was at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the strategic investment arm of the CIA and the US Intelligence Community; she co-founded IQT’s Australian subsidiary, served as its Managing Director, and built an international program to support a global innovation initiative through investing in the Asian-Pacific region. Brigid holds a BS in Chemistry from the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.