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]
Will Whitehorn | |
|---|---|
 Will Whitehorn and Richard Branson at the nose of SpaceShipTwo in 2010 | |
| Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University | |
| Assumed office 2021 | |
| Preceded by | David Eustace |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1960 (age 63–64) Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
| Education | Edinburgh Academy |
| Alma mater | University of Aberdeen |
| Profession | Business executive |
Biography
editWhitehorn 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
edit- ^ W.J. Hennigan (23 December 2010). "Virgin Galactic's president announces his resignation". LA Times. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
- ^ a b c "First Edinburgh man in space". Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
- ^ "University announces Will Whitehorn as its next Chancellor". Edinburgh Napier University. 24 June 2021.
- ^ "Famous cadets". RAF Air Cadets. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ a b "Management". Stagecoach Group. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "Whitehorn appointed Transport Systems Catapult chair". Rail Technology Magazine. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Transport Systems Catapult announce Terry Hill as new Chairman". Catapult. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "Will Whitehorn to become CILT president". Logistics Manager Magazine. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
Bibliography
edit- "First Edinburgh Man in Space". Red Orbit. 10 October 2004. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2007.