AvSales Talent Founder Tom Lelyo Named to NBAA’s 2025 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40

Industry recognition highlights a career trajectory built on aviation sales expertise and a commitment to closing the industry’s talent gap

SARASOTA, FL — Tom Lelyo, President of Jet Life Aero LLC and Founder of AvSales Talent, has been named one of the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) 2025 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 award recipients. The recognition, presented annually by NBAA’s Young Professionals in Business Aviation (YoPro) program, honors emerging leaders making a measurable impact on the industry.

Lelyo’s path into aviation began as a second act. After more than a decade as a youth pastor, he pivoted into business jet brokerage with no aviation background and learned the industry from the ground up. Three years into his career as a broker, he launched Jet Life Aero LLC — but quickly recognized a larger problem that his own experience had made visible: aspiring aviation sales professionals had nowhere to go to learn the fundamentals of aircraft transactions the right way.

That realization led directly to AvSales Talent, a training and marketplace platform designed to bridge the gap between aviation companies struggling to build sales capacity and professionals seeking to break into the industry.

“What excites me most about business aviation is that it’s a proverbial ‘blue ocean’ filled with opportunities. What I find most rewarding about my career is providing help and guidance to the next generation of aspiring jet brokers — being the resource I never had, but I wish I did.”— Tom Lelyo, President, Jet Life Aero LLC / Founder, AvSales Talent

Through AvSales Talent, Lelyo now trains aspiring aviation sales professionals through the AvSales Academy coaching program and connects aviation business owners with sales talent and systems designed specifically for the industry. The platform serves both sides of a persistent industry challenge: companies that can’t find sales professionals who speak aviation fluently, and driven individuals who want into the industry but don’t know where to start.

The NBAA Top 40 Under 40 distinction reflects what Lelyo has built through direct experience rather than theory. His work as an aircraft broker gave him firsthand knowledge of how aviation buyers think, what fluency actually sounds like in a sales conversation, and why generic sales training consistently fails in a specialized industry. AvSales Talent was built on those lessons.

The full list of 2025 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 award recipients is available at nbaa.org.

Ready to build a real career in aviation sales? At AvSales Talent, we train aspiring jet brokers, charter brokers, and aircraft sales professionals with the frameworks, systems, and support they need to succeed. Learn more about our aviation sales training programs and start building the skills that separate top performers from everyone else.