Will Whitehorn

Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn and Richard Branson at the nose of SpaceShipTwo in 2010
Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University
Incumbent
Assumed office
2021
Preceded byDavid Eustace
Personal details
Born1960 (age 64–65)
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
EducationEdinburgh Academy
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen
ProfessionBusiness executive

William Elliott Whitehorn (born 1960) is a British business executive. Until December 2010 he was President of Virgin Galactic,[1] a company which plans to offer space tourism flights to the paying public.[2] He was formerly the President of the industry group, UKspace, and has been Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University since 2021.[3]

Biography

Whitehorn was born in Edinburgh, Scotland along with siblings Donald, Edward and Katherine. He attended Edinburgh Academy and Aberdeen University.[2] He was an air cadet in his teenage years.[4]

Whitehorn's early career was as a crewman on North Sea helicopters and also with the Thomas Cook travel agency. In 1987, Whitehorn joined Virgin Group after being talent-spotted by Sir Richard Branson, after he had suggested a number of ideas to Virgin the previous year. He rose to become the head of Virgin's public affairs department.[when?] In that role, where he was effectively the official spokesperson for the company, he was sometimes characterized as Branson's "right-hand man".[2]

From 2007 to 2011 he was president of Virgin's space program, Virgin Galactic,[5] but left owing to the relocation of the testing area.[citation needed] Since 2011 he has been a non-executive director of Stagecoach Group, where he was appointed Deputy Chairman in 2016, and he has the same roles at Good Energy.[5]

Whitehorn was Chairman of the Transport Systems Catapult project from 2013 to 2016,[6][7] and President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK for 2016–17.[8]

References

  1. ^ W.J. Hennigan (23 December 2010). "Virgin Galactic's president announces his resignation". LA Times. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "First Edinburgh man in space". Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  3. ^ "University announces Will Whitehorn as its next Chancellor". Edinburgh Napier University. 24 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Famous cadets". RAF Air Cadets. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Management". Stagecoach Group. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Whitehorn appointed Transport Systems Catapult chair". Rail Technology Magazine. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Transport Systems Catapult announce Terry Hill as new Chairman". Catapult. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Will Whitehorn to become CILT president". Logistics Manager Magazine. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.

Bibliography