Brian O'Hara

Advisory Board Member

Chief Brian O’Hara serves as the 54th Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. With more than two decades in public safety leadership, he brings a rare blend of operational command experience and visionary reform work. Since arriving in Minneapolis, Chief O’Hara has prioritized reducing crime, rebuilding departmental capacity, and restoring public trust by implementing transformative reforms, strengthening community partnerships, deploying data-informed and intelligence-led enforcement strategies, and embedding accountability and transparency across the department’s operations.

Before joining MPD, Chief O’Hara served as Deputy Mayor and Public Safety Director for the City of Newark, New Jersey. In that role, he oversaw more than 1,960 employees—including police, fire, and civilian staff—and managed a budget exceeding $200 million. He was instrumental in leading Newark’s nationally recognized police reform efforts under a federal consent decree.

Chief O’Hara is widely respected for his ability to navigate complex, high-pressure environments while building trust with both frontline officers and community stakeholders. His leadership reflects a deep commitment to constitutional policing and empowering frontline officers, demonstrating that reform and safety are not mutually exclusive.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rutgers University–Newark, a graduate certificate from the University of Virginia, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, FBI National Executive Institute, the Senior Management Institute for Police, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Program for Senior Executives in State & Local Government.