Patrick O'Heffernan
Board Member of the Center for Partnership Studies
Emmy-Award Winner
Ph.D., Former Professor
Consultant to California Gov. Jerry Brown
An MIT Ph.D. and former Professor of International Relations at Georgia Tech. Dr. O'Heffernan launched the North Asia Nuclear Free Zone backchannel negotiations in 1996, which was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. A non-tenured faculty member, he also served in the Georgia Tech Administration as Director of Foundation Relations.
He has written or ghost-written 9 books and several book chapters. His books include the New York Times business best seller The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. He has designed and created numerous events, including "A Vision of America at Peace", a three-day public relations event at the 1984 Democratic National Convention that hosted 10,000 people a day, and "An American Response to Energy and the Environment" with former President Jimmy Carter, an international conference of experts and senior executives from the US and Japanese auto and energy industries and governments to establish collaboration on energy conservation. In 1994 he pioneered the use of PSA's on global television with spots shown around the world promoting the UN Conference on the Environment.
He also executive-produced the global PSA campaign for the UN Conference on Population and Development. He has managed a state presidential primary campaign, a campaign for the California Assembly, and his own (successful) local election campaign.
He served as a Special Consultant to the administration of Governor Jerry Brown, developing strategy and tactics to protect the California coast from oil development. He also served as a consulting advisor to the California Energy Commission, managing contracts with the RAND Corporation and MIT to develop state strategy for oil shortages. He has testified before Congress and served as part of the State's team negotiating with the Secretary of the Interior over the leasing of offshore oil lands.
