Zero Motorcycles has announced that its founder, Neal Saiki, is leaving his daily operational responsibilities for the company. He will be re-entering the Igor I. Sikorski Human Powered Helicopter Competition, which Neal first pursued at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo as an aeronautical engineering student in 1989. Neal and his wife, Lisa, founded Zero Motorcycles Inc. (then called Electricross) in their garage in Scotts Valley, Calif., in January of 2006.
“Neal had the vision, the talent and the courage to launch an electric motorcycle company before there really was an electric motorcycle industry, or even a market,” stated long-time Zero Motorcycles Board Member, Aflalo Guimarães, Managing Director of The Invus Group, Zero’s largest investor. “We are grateful to Neal and will continue to rely on his vision and counsel.” Zero Motorcycles is also a corporate sponsor of Neal’s entry into the competition.
Over the past year, Zero Motorcycles has added several industry veterans to its management team. The company says it is now well positioned to execute the vision with which Neal launched the company.
“Founding Zero was exciting, fun and a lot of hard work. At this point, I think it is well established … I can now move on to pursuing the dream of building a human powered flying machine,” said Neal.
