George T. Whitesides is the Chief Executive of Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, is a new space venture established to undertake the challenge of making private space travel available to everyone. He also serves as Chairman of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group on the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee.
Prior to these positions, Mr. Whitesides was the founder and director of Permission to Dream, a global space education program concerned with connecting underprivileged children with space and astronomy. From June 2002 until January 2003, he was Vice President of Marketing for Zero Gravity Corporation. Mr. Whitesides received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1996. He was a Fulbright Scholar from October 1996 until June 1997, and he received a Masters of Philosophy degree in remote sensing and geographic information systems from the University of Cambridge in England in 2000. Whitesides is a private pilot and parabolic flight coach.