Michael Curtis

Michael Curtis is entrusted with creating measurable and lasting impact to American Councils’ participants and stakeholders worldwide. As senior vice president of strategic development, Mr. Curtis pursues and secures new opportunities, promotes the organization’s achievements, and strengthens outreach to current and future strategic partners.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Curtis worked at one of the first western investment and consulting firms in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he advised US corporate clients and supported US exports to the Russian aviation industry. In 1999, Mr. Curtis joined American Councils to oversee its Uzbekistan office; soon after, his portfolio expanded to regional operations throughout Central Asia and Afghanistan.

In 2006, Mr. Curtis transitioned to American Councils’ headquarters in Washington, DC to lead its business development efforts and in 2015, he was named vice president of program and business development. As vice president, Mr. Curtis oversaw federal and non-federal development efforts and new market expansion in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. More recently, Mr. Curtis was the chief of international business development at the University of Southern California’s top-ranked school of pharmacy, where he was responsible for strategic growth internationally.

Mr. Curtis is a fluent speaker of Russian, lived overseas in Russia and Central Asia for more than 10 years, and maintains close ties to numerous overseas universities and ministries of education. He holds an MBA and master of international business from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in European history.