Will Whitehorn
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Will Whitehorn OBE | |
|---|---|
 Will Whitehorn OBE 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 65–66) Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
| Education | Edinburgh Academy |
| Alma mater | University of Aberdeen |
| Profession | Business executive |
William Elliott Whitehorn OBE (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]
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]
In 2025, Whitehorn was awarded an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours for services to the aerospace and space industry.[9]