BRG hires Franco Ciulla as managing director in energy practice

Berkeley Research Group (BRG), an Emeryville, CA-headquartered management consulting firm, has hired Franco Ciulla as a managing director in its energy and climate practice in Houston.

Ciulla is a consultant and petroleum engineer with over 30 years of experience in the energy sector. He has extensive expertise in commercial growth strategy, risk assessment, M&A support, capital infrastructure evaluation, and operational excellence across the entire energy value chain.

Ciulla has advised on strategy plans for several top-100 service companies and has completed engagements for clients across conventional energy sources and production, clean fuels, power generation, and renewables, among other areas.

He joins BRG from L.E.K. Consulting, where he was a partner and managing director. Before that, he was VP for upstream consulting, Americas at Wood Mackenzie and a managing director at IHS (now S&P Global).

Earlier in his career, Ciulla was VP for business development, Americas at Rystad Energy, director of strategic planning at Prime Natural Resources, and a senior director at PFC Energy.

He has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the Central University of Venezuela.

"Franco's decades of expert strategic and transactional experience will be instrumental in helping our energy clients successfully navigate their increasingly complex and multifaceted business challenges,” said Chris Goncalves, chair of BRG's energy and climate practice.

Ciulla added, "I'm thrilled to join such a dynamic, diverse and skilled team of practitioners. BRG's extensive capabilities across the energy sector and deep client relationships will be invaluable to the growth of my practice."

BRG last month welcomed James Toal as a director in its energy and climate practice in Houston.