Joey O’Brien is an award-winning serial entrepreneur who has been owning and developing businesses since he was 19 years old. He is co-founder, president and chair of Sustaero, building Canada’s first billion-litre sustainable aviation fuel production capacity, as well as Vice Chair of both the Bow Valley Green Energy Co-op and Rocky Mountain Community Energy.

Mr. O’Brien’s career started with acquiring the Martock ski resort in Nova Scotia in 1979 at age 19. Year 1 had 250% growth and year 2 had another 150%. By age 21 he had approximately 200 staff. After 25 years, it was a stable business with just under 300 staff. He sold it to one of his staff in 2003. 

Mr. O’Brien has rejuvenated three more alpine resorts in western Canada, include Fortress Mountain Resort, Baldy Mountain Resort and then Pass PowderKeg. He also served as Manager of Community Services for the Community of Crowsnest Pass. He improved the cost recovery of the 21 budgets he was responsible for from 25% to 39% in 24 months. 

Mr. O’Brien has served on over 50 boards and committees over a 47-year period, presently serving as chair of the sustainability committee of the Rotary Club of Canmore, Vice Chair of Bow Valley Green Energy Co-op, Vice Chair of Rocky Mountain Community Energy, and the Bow Valley Developers Association sustainability committee. He co-founded and served as CEO of SustainAgro and as president of SustainDriven, and co-chaired the sustainability committee of the 2014 Banff Canmore Alberta Winter Games, the most sustainable multi-sport event in history. He has been Sustainability Director for the Banff Marathon since 2014, where he led the process to become the first Canadian entity and 80th in the world to be awarded a partnership under the UNFCCC Sport for Climate Action call for leadership. The Banff Marathon remains one of only three entities in Canada that meets the revised targets as a result of the sixth IPCC report. He continues to advise the Town of Banff on their GHG goals. In 1997, he won the Ernst & Young Atlantic Canada Entrepreneur of the Year in the services category; in 2019, he won the Green Sports Alliance Innovator of the Year (pictured), and in 2023 was inducted into the Atlantic Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance Hall of Fame.  Outside of work, Mr. O’Brien is an active skier and a proud grandfather, whose grandchildren help motivate his career focus on environmental sustainability.