O’Brien began his career with Hasbro 28 years ago in the finance department and organized the company’s import department in 1983, where he now serves as director of global trade and customs. O’Brien monitors trade laws to ensure Hasbro remains compliant with all CBP import rules and regulations. As Hasbro annually develops a new product line, O’Brien works with the product engineering department to classify the items. He also participates in marketing decisions and remembers a 1987 team meeting about a new line of robotic toys that needed a catchy name. “Out of this meeting came the word ‘Transformers,’” says O’Brien, “and the rest is history.”

O’Brien’s support of industry change and modernization motivated him to become a trade ambassador for ACE. “The ACE program helps Hasbro improve its import and transactional processes to make international trade more efficient,” says O’Brien. He credits the ACE periodic monthly statement feature with streamlining Hasbro’s financial processes and adds, “ACE periodic processing helps companies improve both their payment processes and compliance methods.” According to O’Brien, Hasbro benefits most from the flexibility ACE provides to create customized reports, and the company is looking forward to future ACE releases that will facilitate electronic communication between CBP and other government agencies.

O’Brien has made ACE presentations at the TIA conference, the American Conference Institute and Suffolk University. In January 2007, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security appointed O’Brien to a two-year term on the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. He is also involved in other CBP initiatives, including the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and the Importer Self-Assessment Program and has spoken on these topics to the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade, the Council of Logistics Management Roundtable and the CBP Trade Symposium. However, what O’Brien enjoys most is his position in Hasbro’s import department, which allows him to combine his international trade expertise and people skills. “In my job, I work with brokers, importers, consultants, logistics providers and personnel from CBP and other federal agencies,” says O’Brien. “Hasbro brings international trade to my doorstep.”