Paul O’Brien is a Managing Director of Human Capital for Operations. Paul earned his B.S. degree from Southern Illinois University and began his career at Hyatt Hotels. His people and conflict resolution skills made an impression, and he was encouraged to explore Human Resources, quickly becoming a HR Director. Following his time in hospitality, Paul transitioned into automotive at Toyota, starting on the manufacturing floor as an HR Employee Relations Representative and moving up from there into to leadership positions. More recently, Paul had been working at Nissan where he lead multiple HR departments both local, regional and global. Paul’s main focus throughout his career was Manufacturing Operations as a Human Resource Business Partner and Talent Acquisition. The recruiter became the recruited when John Stewart offered him to come join MiddleGround. Paul hasn’t looked back since and is enjoying learning the Private Equity side of the Business World.
Although Paul has an extensive career history, he enjoys the simple things in life. Specifically, fishing. He loves it all but has a soft spot for coastal fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and is currently learning how to trout fish in Georgia and Tennessee. When he’s not busy with work or out on the water, Paul loves to spend quality time with his wife Cindy and her daughters and grandkids. His dream vacation is Ireland, where he hopes to unlock the history and lore of his family heritage!