Mr. O’Brien has served as Vice-Chairman of the pdvWireless board of directors since April 2012. As the co-founder and chairman of Nextel Communications, Inc., Mr. O’Brien led the creation of the first all-digital nationwide wireless network and brought push-to-talk (PTT) communication to the mass business and consumer market. Mr. O’Brien was also a co-founder of Cyren Call Communications where he served until January 2009.
Mr. O’Brien was recognized in 1987 as NJ Entrepreneur of the Year and was voted the RCR Person of the Year in 1993 and again in 2006. In 2001, he was inducted into the Wireless History Foundation Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was inducted into the Washington, DC Business Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was named a Fellow of the Radio Club of America (RCA) and was named by Fierce Wireless as “one of the top U.S. wireless innovators of all time.” In 2016, he received RCA’s highest honor, the Armstrong Medal, “for outstanding achievement and lasting contributions to the radio arts and sciences and wireless communications.”