Meet Our Team
Prof. Robert Erickson
Co-founder, and CTO
Prof. Robert Erickson is a world-renowned expert in Silicon Carbide Power Electronics. Prof. Erickson’s power electronics lab at the University of Colorado-Boulder has received over $4.4M in funding from the Department of Energy for SiC converter research. BREK is built upon this foundation. Prof. Erickson is a fellow of the IEEE and of the CU/NREL Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute. His highly regarded research in power electronics has led to over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 13 issued patents. Previously, Prof. Erickson served as CTO for Phobos Energy, Inc., a startup focused on increasing power generation of residential PV systems.
Dr. Kala Majeti
President and Co-founder
Dr. Kala Majeti is an expert in IP licensing having worked at The University of Colorado–Boulder in their Technology Transfer Office. It was there that Dr. Majeti learned of Prof. Erickson’s innovations. She previously founded 4 startups, and with over a decade of experience in the global solar industry, she saw the potential of Dr. Erickson’s work. From their collaboration, BREK was created. Dr. Majeti has over 25 years of experience in product management and business development including senior management positions at AT&T and Lucent Technologies’ Bell Laboratories.
Sreenivas Cherukuri
CEO
Sreenivas Cherukuri has nearly a decade of experience in founding and growing startups. He previously served as Co-founder and COO of a medical device startup, which had a profitable exit after 7 years. Mr. Cherukuri was also Director of Lotus Bank and navigated it through the 2008 financial crisis.
Reuben Valeriano
Compliance Engineer
Reuben Valeriano graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, concentrating in renewable electrical energy systems. He has spent the last 5 years of his career helping bring energy storage systems to market. As a senior electrical engineer at Sonnen, Inc., he helped in the design and certification of their first inverter and photovoltaic optimizer. He was instrumental in integrating these power electronics devices into energy storage products that were sold in North America, Europe, and Australia. Reuben is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree at North Carolina State University in Power Systems Engineering concentrating in wide band gap technology.
Ashwin Karthik Muralidharan
Power Electronics Controls Engineer
Ashwin graduated from the University of Colorado- Boulder with a Master’s Degree in Power Electronics. He is currently working on developing the controls and firmware for BREK’s 3- phase grid connected inverters. Before joining BREK he worked in the Advanced Engineering division of Power Electronics at Borg Warner where he was involved in developing and testing LLC Resonant converters for On Board Chargers. He also has significant experience from working at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in developing controls and firmware for Full Bridge DC-DC converters.
John Dando
Electronics Technician
John has an extensive background in manufacturing, including, Assembly Technician for Altitude Automation. He also worked at, Denver Concrete Vibrator as well as a Rinal Test Technician for SMA Solar Technology, AG.
Richard Erickson
Firmware Engineer
Richard graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and a minor in Digital Systems. He currently works on developing firmware for BREK’s inverters.
Mark Durniak
Marketing Manager
Mark Durniak is an entrepreneurial scientist with 7 years of experience with wide bandgap semiconductors and has a passion for clear and concise technical marketing. Mr. Durniak completed the NSF I-Corps Site program with his previous startup and and learned to identify key pain points, unmet needs, and market trends. He served as author and Principal Investigator on two NSF SBIR grants.
Tamara Garcia
Office Administrator
Tamara Garcia was previously a teacher for children with special needs. She currently runs the day-to-day operations for BREK Electronics.
Wendy Campbell
CPA
Wendy Campbell, CPA, has spent her career working with local small businesses. She has been with BREK almost since inception and serves as the company’s controller and tax adviser.
