Our Team
Kristine (Stina) Forssén O’Brien
Born in Denmark, with family in the United States, I’ve grown up in two cultures. Similarly, I’ve bridged the academic and non-academic worlds for much of my life. My formal education is in the sciences - growing up in an academic household with Niels Bohr’s librarian and a physicist for parents, my interests veered towards biomedicine. I earned an AB from Princeton University in Chemistry, and a Masters degree in Medical Science and a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University. I continued with post-doctoral studies in laboratories in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Boston Children’s Hospital, Brandeis University, and UMass Medical Center.
In 2010 I was invited to join Brill Neumann Associates, a higher education-focused executive search firm known for its relationship-based and person-centered approach. For ten years the work continued that way, although in different contexts as the company grew, dissolved, and was eventually acquired by a much larger consulting organization. Like many, I took stock of my life in 2020, and by 2021 I was ready to launch EDDA partners. In 2022, a good friend and former colleague, Jennifer Rice, joined the firm officially!.
My passions in literature, music, and dance have taken me many places – from performing at traditional folk festivals in rural England to serving as Board President for Revels, Inc. a national theater company with a significant annual budget and nine affiliates. My board service has come during a turbulent time for the fifty year old organization, and has been a demanding and rewarding experience. Other volunteer work involves working throughout the school year with second graders in the Argenziano School, a public school in Somerville, MA, and coaching in the Somerville Youth Soccer League.
Jennifer (Jenn) Akiko Rice
Born in Los Angeles to two Air Force parents, I’ve lived in 14 states and two countries and like to believe this has made me more attuned to presenting the challenges and opportunities of relocating candidates (whether physically or virtually) to a new environment.
My education largely focused on biological sciences (specifically pharmacology laboratories at Yale University and Johns Hopkins University), and I earned a BA in the History of Science and Medicine from Yale University before entering executive search consulting in 2010. Throughout my time at three firms, I have recruited for a wide variety of academic and operational leadership roles for clients that include research universities, liberal arts colleges, academic medical centers and biotech companies.
I am presently a resident of Oxford, Mississippi. My volunteer work has revolved around the Mothers' Milk Bank of Mississippi and the former Jackson Women's Health Organization, and I serve as the Board Treasurer of the Magnolia Montessori School.