Vanessa O'Brien

Vanessa Audi Rhys O'Brien was born on 2 December 1964 and grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. After graduating from Grosse Pointe South High School, O'Brien briefly attended University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then New York University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Executive MBA in Finance.

O'Brien worked as a Director of Finance and Business Development for Morgan Stanley, Barclays Bank, and the Bank of America.[15][16]

O'Brien is an Honorary Advisory Board member of the Scientific Exploration Society.[17] She is also a Community Ambassador for the outdoor equipment company, Arc'Teryx, Soho, New York, and a Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan,[18] an Honorary Ambassador of the US Nepal Climbers Association Inc.,[19] and is an active member of The American Alpine Club. O'Brien previously held board positions at The Explorers Club, the American Pakistan Foundation, and was a former Advisory board member for Thomson Safaris.[20][21] O'Brien has contributed to a number of research and scientific projects including investigating the effects of nocturnal hypoxic exposure on high-altitude mountaineering (Explorers Club Flag No. 206 to Manaslu's summit at 26,759 feet[22]), testing the thinning of high altitude glaciers (Explorers Club Flag #132 to the Godwin-Austen Glacier at 16,500 feet[23]), and illustrating the impact of climate change at the equator in advance of COP21 in conjunction with Project 25Zero.[24]

Having trekked to Mount Everest base camp and reached the summits of a number of notable mountains, including five of the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks (Shishapangma, Everest, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and K2), including summiting two eight thousanders back-to-back just 8 days apart (Shishapangma and Cho Oyu), O'Brien decided to build on her passion for mountaineering and set herself the challenge of achieving the Explorer's Grand Slam.[25] The Explorer's Grand Slam entails reaching the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, as well as meeting the Three Pole Challenge.[26]

O'Brien joined Caladan Oceanic's Ring of Fire expedition to the Pacific Ocean to survey the bottom of the three pools that constitute Challenger Deep in partnership with NOAA.[27] On 12 June 2020, Victor Vescovo and O'Brien descended to the "Eastern Pool" of Challenger Deep spending three hours mapping the bottom, with the dive scanning approximately one mile of desolate bottom terrain, finding that the surface is not flat, as once was thought, but sloping, and by about 18 ft (5.5 m), subject to verification.[28]

After taking the American Red Cross flag to the North Pole in 2013,[26] O'Brien completed the Boston Marathon in 2017 to help the American Red Cross raise over $512,000 for charity.[29][30]

O'Brien has the following photography credits at Forbes magazine for Motorsports in 2018 covering The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC: Don Schumacher, Leah Pritchett, Tony Schumacher, and Antron Brown.[31][32][33] O'Brien also has the following photography credits at Forbes magazine for Motorsports in 2015 covering Pocono Raceway: Justin Wilson, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, and Sage Karam.[34][35][36][37] Additional photos include Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi, Mike Hull, and Pippa Mann.[38][39][40][41]

• Official website