In November of 1974, Michael Nassirian was studying Electrical Engineering at Abadan Institute of Technology in Iran when his father came into his dormitory room announcing he was being sent to the United States. In his naïveté, Michael told his father he couldn’t leave; he had finals and needed to take them to further his own education. Michael’s father, however, knew that this trip was to save Michael’s life and alter the trajectory of his and his brother’s futures.

 

The government was entering a ten-year cycle of upheaval and chaos, with internal fighting for Iranian identity after years of support (and oppression) from the West. This chaos had roots in decisions made decades previously, way back in1943, when allied leaders from Russia, the US, and UK (Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill) gathered in a secret meeting called the Tehran Conference, which established Iran as the central territory where the Allies could concentrate their opposition to Germany outside of Europe. In return, Iran was to be recognized as an independent nation if the allied forces won the war. Post victory, the allies exiled the King of Iran, Reza Shah, to St. Moritz Island in Africa and appointed his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, as the new Shah of Iran, placing Iran under UK control.

 

The new Shah, a political leader with deep spiritual ties, led the country for decades with a flourishing economy in the wake of World War II. Iran had mosques, synagogues, and churches worshipping side by side in peace; women commanding leadership roles in politics and the communities across the country; and with its oil reserves, Iran was wealthy and growing. Then, in the 1970s, disenchantment with the West and its values changed public perception of how Iran should be governed. There came a shift towards a theocratic style of government. Concerned they would be targeted because of loyalty to the secular regime, many Shah-loyalists fled Iran to western countries, which is exactly why Michael and his brother Ron boarded a plane to the United States with just their modest possessions and a hope for freedom.

 

Michael ended up at the University of Texas, Austin, studying electrical engineering. In 1978, the year he was supposed to graduate, his advisor told him he only needed three credits to get his Bachelor of Science degree. On a whim, he took a brand-new course called Biochemical Engineering, and promptly fell in love with the emerging field. He wanted to pursue his Masters in Biomedical Engineering, with a cardiac (heart) focus. He applied and got into Stanford University, but was assigned to Pulmonary study and decided to return to University of Texas to pursue his Masters in cardiac-focused bioengineering. His thesis was on the Measurement of Cardiac Contractility, which was a non-invasive method of monitoring heart contractions and heart strength. He attended over 110 open heart studies and created one of the first computer models of the heart.

 

Late one night, Michael received an unexpected phone call from his mother. In the days before cellphones and cheap international charges, receiving a call from Tehran was costly and rare. It was an emergency; his mom quickly informed him that with the devolving political crisis at home in Iran, his father could not continue to transfer funds to the US, and that he needed to figure out his finances on his own. Without his tuition payments for his Masters (and hoping for his PhD), Michael found himself almost penniless, without an advanced degree, and with no job in sight.

Worried about his predicament, he went to campus immediately to see if there were any research or teaching positions to help pay for his tuition and living expenses. With his mind on his worries, he didn’t realize it was only five a.m., so he sat outside the Engineering School waiting for someone or something to come along to help. About an hour later, his advisor came jogging by, surprised to see Michael sitting there. Michael quickly caught Dr. Cogdell up to speed on his current financial situation. Not even 45 minutes later, Michael had the name of yet another professor in search of lab and teaching assistants. He walked into the office of Dr. Thomas and was hired on the spot (much to the amazement of the rest of the research team). They had been looking for the ‘right’ candidate and had rejected more than 20 applicants. Dr. Thomas had remembered Michael from one of his large lecture classes, as his intelligence, even in a room of more than 600 students, made him stand out. This research and teaching stipend would allow Michael to pay his bills and complete his Masters, and possibly carry this through his pursuit of a PhD.

 

In the end, he was not able to finish his PhD because the hostage crisis of 1982 was all over the news and, although he was working towards his PhD study in the “Computer Model of the Chest”, he was deported. He was on a student visa at the time, so to gain experience in his field of work he applied for a temporary work visa. Unfamiliar with the details of this visa, and given the high US unemployment rate of 11% at that time, he couldn’t find employment and was told to leave the country. His coworkers, mentors, and teachers didn’t want him to leave, so the university rallied behind him and he was soon hired as an Electrical Engineer at Texas Instruments.

Through his work there, Michael was hired at Microsoft in 1997, making his mark on innovative technologies while learning best practices for the newest generation of technology corporations. Michael has since retired from Microsoft and is now working in AI, developing technology for mitigation and response to active shooter situations. His new company, ARVR Academy, has adopted their logo from Michael’s most treasured possession from his homeland-- his family crest ring. The Persian Gryphon (also known as a Simurgh) is a combination of a lion and an eagle, demonstrating the ability be strong and ascend to do the greatest good.

 

Looking back on his business ethics and career trajectory, Michael has learned many important lessons, the first being ‘be like water’ and go with the flow of life, a best practice he has used ever since. On March 6th, 2020, following an important presentation given in Seattle, Michael became one of the earliest documented cases of COVID, which left him struggling with the virus for 7 weeks. During this time of illness and recovery, he was able to organize his thoughts into a 700-page tome of anecdotes from his life, bringing to life the business advice he wanted to share with the next generation of leadership. His large body of work was reorganized (and shortened) into the book, I’m Tired: How to Survive and Succeed in Corporate America (available on amazon.com and www.michaelnassirian.io).

 

With the support of Neda, his wife of 37 years, Michael has also become involved in the Women, Life, Freedom global solidarity movement where Iranian women and girls bravely demonstrate for their fundamental human rights. He has lived in Clyde Hill for over 25 years, where his children, Ava and Baabak, attended Bellevue Christian and the University of Washington. 

Michael, through his life of good works, is the very embodiment of the Simurgh. He has shown his strength and ascension toward the greatest good through his long, loving marriage; his fathering of two successful children into adulthood; his support for those who deserve freedom halfway around the world; and his positive impact on communities across the globe by making them safer so all can thrive.