Jul 14 2025

Warren Curry, Skyryse Vice President of Sales Posted 4 days ago ago by Admin

Remember back when Apple introduced its iPhone with iOS. The new operating system transformed Apple’s cell phone into a powerful handheld computer. Worthy competitors soon followed with their own smartphone operating systems, such as Android. Now, imagine if an operating system had been introduced that transformed any old cell phone into a smart phone. Suddenly, Blackberry phones and non-smart Nokias would have been upgraded into smartphones! This analogy is basically what Skyryse (pronounced sky-rise) is attempting with their proprietary SkyOS, which they say is “the first universal operating system for flight” that upgrades “any helicopter or airplane” with pilot-assisting autonomous flight capability that far exceeds today’s standard autopilot. Does that sound too lofty—too pie-in-the-sky?  (One can almost hear tennis personality John McEnroe exclaiming in a commercial, “Choose any aircraft?? You cannot be serious!!”) Well, welcome to the serious challenge that faces Warren Curry, VP of sales for Skyryse. He explains, “In aviation, there’s a lot of ‘vaporware.’ What I mean is that there are a lot of companies over-promising technology as being almost available, but it’s actually years away…. People see (our SkyOS operating system and coming Skyryse One helicopter) as being half a decade away, but our FAA certification is imminent. We’re shipping Skyryse One in 2026.”  

Working Foundation
    
Breaking through barriers with blue-collar grit is something Curry’s done all his life, beginning with his youth in Akron, Ohio, as the middle child of three siblings raised by hard-working parents. His mom held two jobs to make ends meet, including working the night-shift at Krispy Kreme. Curry remembers, “I ate leftover donuts for breakfast from 7th grade through high school; I never eat them now.” His parents gave him much more than burn-out for a baker’s dozen. “They instilled in me a strong work ethic. I’ve had a job all my life since my third-grade newspaper route, and the Marine Corps enhanced this ethic. I think my background instilled in me a willingness to work and resiliency, which has passed down to my five (blended-family) kids.”

That willingness to work carried over onto his high school football field where Curry excelled at Tight End and was offered a scholarship to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  The young man turned down the offer because he wanted to experience the ‘Big Apple’ (NYC) where he attended Fordham University until financial reality sent him back home to finish his degree in accounting at John Carroll University.

U.S. Marine
  
Upon graduation, Curry enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 with the option to take a pilot position. After cold-and-wet basic infantry training, he took that shot. “I decided that flight training couldn’t be worse than infantry,” he says. After two years of flight school, Curry graduated top of his class and became one of the first Marine pilots to fly the tiltrotor V22 Osprey. He deployed to Iraq where his squadron learned to overcome and adapt in blistering desert heat, but one proud moment he recalls happened in cooler San Diego. “I was flying this state-of-the-art aircraft that everyone wanted to see. The media was there and I told them the aircraft was not the most impressive part of our organization. I then pointed over to the 50 Marines on the flight deck repairing and maintaining this $80 million aircraft. I said, ‘They are the most impressive part. All I do is wiggle the sticks and takeoff; They are the ones that make this whole operation go.’”  

Civilian

Curry’s proud Marine Corps career continued until his retirement in 2017 from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, when he transitioned into a civilian career that began at ICON Aircraft in California where he rose to VP of sales, marketing, flight operations, and service (whew!). During his tenure, ICON had delivered its 100th A5 aircraft, solidifying its position as a leading manufacturer in the light-sport aircraft category and by 2022, ICON delivered 35 A5 aircraft—the highest annual total since 2019—bringing the global fleet to over 165 aircraft with more than 30,000 cumulative flight hours. After nearly five years with ICON, Curry then founded his own company , to represent buyers of private jets, called “Crew Chiefs.”  His company’s slogan is “Don’t assume—verify!”

Then, Skyryse Founder and CEO Mark Groden phoned Curry to ask him to join his innovative company in Los Angeles. Curry recalls, “By the time I hung up, my U-Haul was packed and I was ready to drive cross country. I’ve been fascinated with Skyryse’s technology since first hearing of it when I was at ICON Aircraft.”            

   

Leaders Eat Last
    
What isn’t crazy, but solidly sane, are the leadership skills that The Marine Corps forged many leadership skills into Curry; the former Marine continues to draw on those skills. “Being a commanding officer of Marines was the most satisfying professional thing I’ve done… I don’t miss everything in the Marine Corps, but I miss the young Marine to this day. It’s hard to replace that sense of teamwork we had anywhere else.”  Still, he tries to bring that teamwork to Skyryse through his leadership. He says, “The Marines do a great job of teaching leadership and their saying is ‘leaders eat last.’ I actually get a little anxiety if I eat before others in our organization; It’s a habit that’s ingrained in me.” What he means by eating last is that a real servant leader doesn’t put himself before the needs of his team. “You pour everything you have into your team members,” he says. “If you’re a really good leader, you should end each day spiritually exhausted because you gave everything you had to the team around you. That requires a strong work ethic. A real servant leader is usually the first in the door and the last one to leave.”

Servant leadership isn’t just about pouring yourself into your team, it’s also about giving them ownership. “My top value in hiring a team is finding people who are action oriented. For that to happen, they need to trust me as a leader not to micro-manage them. You give people authority to accomplish a task, but that also means you give them the authority to make mistakes,” Curry says. “If you say you’re giving someone ownership, but you’re constantly micro-managing them, you haven’t really given them anything.” 

A book about creating this ownership culture that Curry has read going on five times—and he says warrants another reading—is It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Michael Abrashoff.  

Owning Mistakes

In an innovative company culture, mistakes are expected and part of the process. So much so that Curry says, “If I’ve been around someone for three months and they haven’t made a mistake, I start questioning what they are really doing.” (This doesn’t include ethical and moral lapses, Curry notes.) 

Not only does Curry expect mistakes, but he also expects them to be owned. “I’m the first to tell my team, ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake.’ I say that as much as possible so that they recognize that I’m human too and we all need each other’s support. Admitting my mistakes also sends the message that it’s OK for everyone to own their mistakes.”

Curry explains this all adds up to an action-oriented, self-reinforcing positive company culture. “With a great culture, you can accomplish great things, but with a poor culture, even the easy things are hard,” he says.

A positive, action-oriented culture is one reason Curry chooses to work in the vertical-lift sector of aviation (besides believing “helicopters are the most interesting and fun aircraft to fly”). He says, “People in this industry are passionate about actually getting something done.. Some sectors of aviation are more about show than do, but in vertical-lift, we’re all about do. Without a doubt, vertical-lift aircraft are the most dynamic, versatile mode of transportation in the world.”

 Curry is determined to enhance that transport by selling Skyryse technology with teamwork.
 

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