"I remember hearing about the OAE awards and thinking, 'I'd love to be one of them one day.' About 20 years later, to my surprise, I have the great honor of receiving an award I had as pired to. Purdue's history of world class engineers and entrepreneurs is what attracted me to the school in the first place. Joining this cohort is an honor I cherish deeply.”
After taking his first flying lesson at age 11, Cyrus Sigari took quickly to the skies. He soloed at 16, earned his private pilot certification a year later, and at age 18 he became one of the youngest flight instructors and commercial pilots in the U.S. He has accumulated thousands of hours of flying experience, and is rated on 13 different jets, including the Boeing 747.
After graduating from Purdue in 2003, Cyrus worked as a propulsion systems and flight test engineer for Eclipse Aviation, where he led the team that certified the first new aircraft fire suppression system in more than 50 years. His work at Eclipse earned him several EPA awards.
Today, as co-founder and managing partner of a venture capital firm, Cyrus' work invests in technologies that move people and goods faster and more efficiently. UP Partners' most recent fund saw commitments in excess of $230 million.
To support his work at UP Partners, Cyrus led in creating UP.Summit, a gathering for leaders in transportation. The most recent summit, held in Bentonville, Arkansas, partnered with the Walton and Perot families. The prior year’s event generated more than $500 million in direct investments into companies at the event.
In 2022, Cyrus was appointed by the Arkansas governor as chairman of the state's Council on Future Mobility. He has been charged with laying out and leading the state's strategy supporting the rapidly changing world of mobility.
Cyrus is also a global leader in private aviation. As the executive chairman and co-founder of jetAVIVA, he grew the company to be one of the largest sellers of business aircraft in the world.
He continues to be an instructor pilot, and has become an Ironman triathlete and self-described adventure junkie.