Guest Speaker - August 2, 2016

 

Barbara O’Connor has been a prominent figure in Sacramento for more than 40 years. She was a longtime professor and chairwoman of the communications department at California State University Sacramento.

In the mid-1980s, she spearheaded the transformation of Sacramento State’s student-run radio station into Capital Public Radio. Although now retired from Sac State, her career is far from over.

O’Connor sits on the boards of many prominent organizations, including Capital Public Radio, AARP and the California Emerging Technology Fund. She still uses her extensive Rolodex to connect people and create new relationships. And she still loves to teach and mentor.

“Barbara is dedicated to the success of others, helping others with her introductions and lift-ups,” said Gina Lujan, CEO of the Hacker Lab coworking space. “She’s a constant force of nature that continues to shed goodness wherever she goes.”

O’Connor always has been interested in technology, particularly in communications. In 1989, she founded the Alliance for Public Technology in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit to ensure public access to telecommunications technologies.

 

In 1996, she co-chaired a statewide taskforce that developed an ambitious technology plan for K-12 schools in collaboration with the Business Roundtable of California and the California Chamber of Commerce.

And she’s currently co-chair of the California Emerging Technology Fund, which aims to bring affordable broadband access to underserved communities.

She also has served as a consultant to newspapers, the Federal Communications Commission, National Public Radio, and telecom giants such as Verizon and AT&T.

O’Connor spends much of the year in Washington, D.C., for AARP. She’s on the group’s finance and foundation committees and is its unofficial tech consultant.

“She’s clearly the most talented person on the board in terms of tech knowledge,” said Gail Aldrich, former AARP board chair who served with O’Connor for four years. “She’s always looking for the next new thing and how it can apply here. She can apply that process to business and organizations better than any person I know.”