Louisa (“Lo-Mari”) O’Brien advises AGS on special events and overseas operations. Lo-Mari is married to AGS Chairman Robert C. O’Brien, the former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The O’Briens met at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1987, when Robert was studying as a Rotary Scholar. Lo-Mari graduated from UFS with a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications that same year.
Lo-Mari began her career in marketing and product development for a collectibles company and a toy company in California. Her roles required significant interaction with the firms’ manufacturers and suppliers in Asia. She then focused on raising the O’Brien’s children and volunteering in their town’s schools as an art docent and in the family’s church community.
In a May 2024 meeting with President Herzog in Israel, Lo-Mari informed him that the O’Briens were establishing the The Robert & Lo-Mari O’Brien scholarship at BYU. The scholarship will be extended to one student each year to attend BYU’s Jerusalem Center. “This scholarship is meant to show support for our friends through the university’s beautiful center in Jerusalem,” she said, continuing, “we hope it will help to increase understanding between our two countries.”
Lo-Mari has lived in Europe and traveled extensively in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She was a member of Washington’s International Club No. 1 when she lived in the District of Columbia. Lo-Mari speaks English, Afrikaans and French. She has participated in archeological digs in Cyprus, enjoys photographic safaris with her family in her native South Africa and is an avid tennis player.