Pete Bitar is the founder, President and CEO of Electric Jet Aircraft (EJA), LLC and AirBuoyant, LLC, and was the Founder, Owner and Director of the Anderson Innovation Center, a private business incubator in Anderson, IN, as well as Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), both of which he sold in 2018.
Pete is the developer of the VertiPod® family of electric VTOL (EVTOL) aircraft such as the EJ-1 – the world’s first, patented Electric Jetpack, and the VertiCycle – a flying, electric motorcycle which recently was one of only 2 full-sized aircraft to qualify and compete (out of 854 teams) for the Pratt and Whitney “Disruptor” Prize, as the first competition in the Go Fly Prize, the largest purely aviation competition in history. The VertiCycle is a primary contender for the $1 million, Boeing-sponsored GoFly Grand Prize.
Pete is the inventor of two patented wind-turbine designs. Pete and his team at XADS invented Xap technology, a counter-IED system to destroy roadside bombs, as well as other non-lethal weapon systems for the US military. Additionally, he has a patent for a missile defense system. In all, Pete has 15 patents to his name.
Pete has founded and sold several entrepreneurial ventures, mostly of a technical nature, during his business career. He is a consultant in the Aerospace and Defense sector for the Gerson-Lehrman Group, and has been with GLG for over 16 years. He also served as a Governor-appointed member of the State of Indiana’s Workforce Innovation Council in the State of Indiana, where he also co-chaired the Indiana Future of Work Taskforce. He serves on several boards involved with education, entrepreneurship and economic development in the area, and was the Vice-Chair of the Indiana Aerospace and Defense Council. He has also been Purdue University - Anderson’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence since 2014.
Pete is an Honors graduate of Portland State University in Oregon and served in the US Air Force from 1985-1989, and received an Honorable Discharge from the USAF Reserves in 1993.
He lives with his wife and two children in Anderson, Indiana.