Brian Curtis (’95)

Concentric Power is building and aggregating the largest network of intelligent microgrids to the benefit of our ag, industrial and community customers as well the electric power grid.

Brian is Founder and CEO of Concentric Power, where he takes a hands-on approach to clean energy and microgrid project development, engineering and finance as well as growing Concentric as a dynamic technology driven company. Their mission is to enable the highest level of renewable energy possible at scale while serving real practical energy needs for our end users.

He cut his teeth as a student engineer at the cogen plant on campus at UCLA 25 years ago and has spent his career in and around process plants and technology start-ups.

"UCLA opened my eyes to a solid engineering approach applied to real-world problems, including work at the power plant on campus when it was commissioned as well as access to amazing outside internships, all of which influenced my current path to developing sustainable infrastructure."

Previously, Brian worked as a project developer for several Khosla Ventures companies, including Calera (technology to convert greenhouse gases from power plants to building materials for beneficial reuse), Range Fuels (advanced biofuels) and Amyris Biotechnologies (advanced biofuels). He also worked for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) office.

Brian lived and worked in China from 2002-2008 where he developed and built a chemical recycling and ammonia processing plant. He also served as Venture Partner and Entrepreneur in Residence with New Margin Ventures and Qiming Ventures, respectively, where he helped raise and deploy $1.35 billion of capital in clean energy and other sectors. Brian began his career as a hydrogen plant design engineer for Chevron.

Brian holds an MBA from MIT Sloan where he ran the $100K Business Plan Competition and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA.

"Joining UCLA Ventures for me was based on wanting to give back to the community as well as actively continue to strengthen it."