Sarah educates private and public purchasers about using EPEAT to reduce the environmental impact of organizations’ computing operations. She was a member of the original stakeholder Development Team which created the EPEAT criteria, participating in the process as an expert on environmentally sustainable purchasing.

In her previous position as Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program Manager for H2E/Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, Ms. O’Brien assisted health care organizations – including large health systems and healthcare Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs)—across North America to improve their environmental performance through purchasing initiatives.

Earlier, as a Senior Outreach Associate with the US national nonprofit INFORM, Ms O’Brien assisted state, local and federal government agencies, education and enterprise purchasers in the US to reduce their purchase of products containing persistent toxic chemicals.

As an environmental health advocate for the National Wildlife Federation and Vermont Public Interest Research Group, she was involved in legislative advocacy and public education efforts around toxics issues throughout the Northeast United States, with a specific focus on mercury reduction measures. She was a lead advocate for pioneering state legislation which limited sale of mercury containing products in Vermont in 1998, and also developed legislation creating a highly successful program for restricting use of toxic substances in Vermont schools in 2000.

Ms O’Brien is an honors graduate of Yale University, and a former Board member of the US National Pollution Prevention Roundtable.