Patrick O’Brien

UCLA, Anderson School of Management

“Army veteran, entrepreneur, and builder focused on solving water scarcity and resource security.”

Hometown: Redding, CA

Fun fact about yourself: I occasionally play guitar and sing Spanish love ballads.

Undergraduate School and Degree: American Military University, B.A. Intelligence Studies

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? U.S. Department of the Army – Counterintelligence Special Agent

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator, Los Angeles. Wolfen Fellow and Co-founder of NEXT TFX, Inc., a cleantech company developing advanced membrane technology for water purification and critical mineral recovery.

Where will you be working after graduation? NEXT TFX, Inc. – Co-founder and Operator

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:
President, Association of Veterans at Anderson (AVA)

Chapter Leader, Vets in Tech

Volunteer Organizer, West Los Angeles Veterans Garden

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? One of the experiences I value most was supporting the UCLA Anderson Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) through the Price Center for Entrepreneurship. The EBV program provides experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management for service members disabled as a result of their military service. Having once been a Soldier recovering from my own wounds, I understand how important purpose and direction can be during that transition period. Contributing to a program that helps veterans build businesses and redefine their futures was deeply meaningful to me. It reminded me how powerful entrepreneurship can be as a tool for rebuilding lives and communities.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I co-founded NEXT TFX, a UCLA-incubated water technology company developing ultra-high-pressure membrane systems capable of reducing desalination energy costs by roughly 20-25%. Our mission is simple: transform seawater and waste brines into both fresh water and critical minerals. The company holds exclusive patent rights from UCLA, has raised early angel funding, and is advancing pilots with global partners while competing for the $119M XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition. Water scarcity affects more than two billion people globally. NEXT TFX is building technology designed to reduce the cost of desalination while unlocking critical minerals from concentrated brine streams.

Why did you choose this business school? UCLA Anderson offered the ideal entrepreneurial culture, placed in proximity to one of the most innovative and growing ecosystems in the country. Los Angeles and the emerging “Silicon Beach” technology corridor create a unique environment where engineering, venture capital, and new ventures intersect. After spending more than a decade away from California during my military career, Anderson also allowed me to return home while pursuing an entrepreneurial path.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Derek Alderton of the Anderson Strategy Group. Derek provides the kind of candid, direct feedback that every MBA needs but does not always receive. As a veteran himself, he brings a disciplined and pragmatic approach to strategy that resonates with me. His teaching style blends humor with brutal honesty about how real business decisions are made. Derek often reminds students that bold strategic thinking requires both courage and clarity. That mindset stayed with me throughout my time at Anderson.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Business Strategy. The course served as a practical synthesis of the other core disciplines. Finance, operations, marketing, and leadership all come together when strategy is applied in a competitive environment. The course forced us to examine why companies win, why they fail, and how leadership decisions shape long-term outcomes. Ultimately, it reinforced that strategy is about choices under uncertainty and the consequences of those choices.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? The One Anderson Service Initiative. The Veterans Garden at the West Los Angeles VA became one of the most meaningful traditions for me. The garden is a fifteen-acre space dedicated to providing fresh food and vocational training to veterans in need. Despite being located just a few miles from Anderson, there had been little formal collaboration between the school and the garden. As AVA president, I worked with Anderson leadership and volunteers to establish a relationship. Together, we organized five volunteer events, planted hundreds of vegetables, and helped raise awareness and outside support for the garden’s mission. The One experience reflected what I value most about Anderson: a willingness to combine leadership, service, and community impact.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have started my entrepreneurial journey sooner. I am fortunate that the company I helped build has gained traction with support from Anderson, but looking back, I realize that the biggest barrier early on was simply hesitation to take the first step. Once I began moving forward and engaging others, the opportunities multiplied quickly. Entrepreneurship rewards momentum, and I would encourage any future student with an idea to begin building immediately.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? One of the most memorable case studies examined the competitive dynamics between A1 Steak Sauce and Lawry’s during a period of intense market competition. What made the experience particularly impactful was discovering that a former Lawry’s executive was quietly observing our discussion in class. Many of our analyses assumed Lawry’s had initiated the conflict, but the reality was more complex. A1 had previously entered one of Lawry’s adjacent markets, prompting a strategic response. The executive explained the full story and even brought discontinued Lawry’s steak sauce bottles as a reminder of that era. The lesson was simple but powerful: business decisions are rarely as straightforward as they appear from the outside. Every strategic move has deeper context, competing incentives, and unintended consequences.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Westwood, Los Angeles, carries a sense of old Hollywood nostalgia. Walking through the same streets and theaters once frequented by classic film stars is a unique experience. And of course, having the Pacific Ocean nearby means a quiet moment at the beach is never far away after a long day.

What business leader do you admire most? Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia. He demonstrated that a company could pursue profitability while remaining committed to environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Patagonia’s model of “profit with purpose” is something I strive to incorporate into my own company. Our goal at NEXT TFX is to expand access to fresh water while helping recover valuable minerals from waste streams, improving both environmental sustainability and global resource security.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? UCLA Anderson deployed an internal AI system called AnderbrAIn, which integrates publicly available information with Anderson-specific knowledge sources. The tool can generate analyses, financial models, tables, and even customized course recommendations. One of its most valuable features is the transparency of its references, allowing students to understand how conclusions are derived. Using it helped me design a more focused academic path aligned with entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Adrian Berger, FTMBA Class of 2026. Adrian has witnessed my entire entrepreneurial journey during business school. From the early days – when I joked about walking over to the engineering school to hunt for patented innovations – to the moment we signed our first commercial pilot, he never discouraged the ambition. Instead, he consistently provided thoughtful feedback and support. Adrian also played a meaningful role in Anderson’s A26 venture fund, which led to a meaningful investment for our cleantech start-up. His curiosity and commitment to understanding complex technologies that create real-world impact are qualities I deeply respect.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Become a leader in building domestic supply chains for critical minerals derived from water and industrial brines.

2. Return to UCLA Anderson to mentor future founders working on the world’s toughest problems.

What made Pat such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“Pat O’Brien arrived at UCLA Anderson with a rare combination of qualities: the humility of someone who spent years as an Army soldier — where leadership meant doing the work, not just directing it — and the vision of someone determined to leave the world meaningfully better than he found it. That vision led him to co-found NEXT TFX, a water technology company built around a UCLA-developed membrane that can purify seawater and recover critical minerals simultaneously. Pat didn’t stumble into this mission — he went looking for it, walking across campus to find an engineering professor whose technology could address one of the world’s most urgent problems. That is who Pat is: someone who moves toward hard things with clarity and conviction.

What makes him truly exceptional is that his ambition never outruns his responsibility to others. As President of the Association of Veterans at Anderson, he built a meaningful partnership between the school and the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Garden — a fifteen-acre space providing fresh food and vocational training to veterans in need — organizing volunteer events and raising outside support where none had existed before. He gives back not as a gesture, but as a habit.”

Marcus Castain
Career Advisor, Parker Career Management Center

 

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