Pouria Abbassi rejoined his Alma Mater as the CEO and Executive Director of the Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA), the largest organization of its kind in the world, in February, 2018. In this leadership role, Pouria leverages his over two decades of executive experience in multiple industries—and his passion for “all things Bruin”—to work with the ASUCLA Board of Directors, the incredible ASUCLA family of employees, campus partners and other stakeholders, moving the organization forward to its next opportunity phase of success and accomplishments in serving the Bruin student body and extending the UCLA brand globally.

Prior to joining ASUCLA, Pouria was the President and CEO of the Golbanoo Group, a specialty business management & consulting firm supporting large scale real estate developments, asset utilization practices through public private partnerships, conference and convention programming and digital health and wellness platforms and technologies.

Pouria previously led Phoenix Houses of California, Inc. (PHC), one of the largest mental health and behavioral health organizations nationally, as its President overseeing the significant service growth of the entire California operations through four companies, across 17 facilities, over 30 programs and a versatile array of services available to Californians.

Prior to Phoenix House, Pouria was the CEO of the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC). Under his leadership , LACC became among the very few convention centers nationwide to attain fiscal solvency, after over three decades of operational fiscal deficit, had the highest occupancy and customer satisfaction rating within its competitive set and was the first convention center of its size and age to achieve LEED-EB Gold certification. During his tenure, he was also involved with all aspects of the multi-billion dollar LA Live development and later collaborations including the 1,000 room convention center headquarter hotel and other venues on the campus to leverage the said assets in promoting Los Angeles. During this time, LACC also became a model of corporate social responsibility through its services, reach and engagement with various communities groups and educational institutions. Pouria was one of the key executives leading the various components of master planning of the $1.5 billion LACC modernization. Prior to joining the LACC, Pouria led teams in project engineering, debt financing, financial modeling, environmental analysis and information technology implementation.

A registered mechanical engineer in the State of California and a graduate of UCLA School of Engineering and UCLA Anderson School of Management/Executive Management Program, Pouria has published several scientific papers in cryogenics and superconductivity and is a recipient of over 30 business and performance awards. He sits on various boards including the Los Angeles Business Council, Providence Hospital Foundation Board of Governors, Beyond Vision Music Foundation, Woodbury University, PAAIA, IA 100, Norooz Celebration Foundation, and works with various other community organizations including PARS Equality Center, KCIS, and Farhang Foundation. Pouria is also an active member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and is engaged with various policy and think tank groups at the local and national levels. Pouria frequently gives presentations on leadership and visioning to student groups and mentors young professionals in their careers. Pouria lives in Los Angeles with his wife, whom he met when they were both studying at UCLA, and their two children.