Aaron Vaccaro is a visionary leader with compassion at the forefront of his craft. He has taken the time over the years to establish his leadership style and philosophy, which guide everything he does, including his efforts in his current role as president of Singularity University.
Singularity University offers programs and experiences designed for professionals looking to transform their organizations through innovative technology and new mindsets. Whether for individuals or entire teams, in-person or virtually, Singularity’s thoughtfully crafted curriculum meets leaders where they are while helping them envision where they could go. Major corporations, including Google and NASA, believe in its ambitious mission and back the organization.
Singularity aims to transform the way leaders of tomorrow think and create in the face of ever-changing technology. In his role as president, Aaron seeks to make the aspirational accessible at Singularity University and beyond by taking lofty, idealistic concepts and creating scalable systems that drive real-world solutions.
Aaron is a native of Northern California and is now based in Sacramento, California. For his undergraduate education, Aaron attended Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Economics and Computer Science. During his time at Whitworth, Aaron established that his leadership style would be built upon a balance he calls “Truth and Grace.” He describes this style as setting a high bar while leading with humility, building trust through candor, and creating an environment that allows people to grow. Truth and Grace have brought him far as a leader, manager, and mentor, and he is now a proud member of his alma mater’s Board of Trustees.
From democratizing golf to expanding access to exponential technologies, Aaron has spent his career reimagining how people interact with ideas that once felt out of reach. Across all his ventures, he focuses on removing friction and complexity without compromising excellence.
This philosophy has been evident throughout Aaron’s career. Before joining Singularity University, Aaron played a pivotal role in expanding world-renowned Topgolf from a niche concept into a cultural phenomenon. This experience led him to become a partner at the venture capital firm WestRiver Group and as president of Singularity University.
Singularity University was founded in 2008 by thought leaders Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil. Singularity believes that there needs to be an education system for tomorrow’s leaders to solve humanity’s global grand challenges (GGCs) to not only prevent disasters but also create new businesses. Their approach to accomplishing this is through thoughtful leadership programs that work to rewire how you think about the future to best leverage exponential technologies to solve business and societies challenges. Singularity describes a futuremaker as someone who actively engages in shaping the world, rather than remaining a passive observer, motivated by the belief that technology can forge a brighter future.
Singularity’s vision is “a world of abundance created by futuremakers working together to solve the world’s greatest challenges.” To achieve this mission, a range of individual leadership programs, including the five-day Executive Program, as well as custom leadership programs for organizations, are offered. After completing a leadership program, futuremakers become part of the Singularity University Alumni ecosystem, which spans over 350,000 individuals worldwide. Singularity hopes that the leaders will engage with the community they have created to help one another apply exponential technologies to the world’s greatest challenges, such as using data for good and addressing global hunger.
Today, at Singularity University, Aaron leads one of the world’s most influential platforms for future-focused leadership. Under his stewardship, the organization has achieved profitability, refined its mission, and reestablished leadership with accountability and empowerment.
Whether he’s advising startups, leading global conversations about the future, or mentoring the next generation of leaders, he brings a deep belief that business can be both bold and human. Through every chapter, Aaron remains focused on a singular goal: helping build a future that’s not only technologically advanced but also deeply thoughtful, inclusive, and worth inheriting.
