George Whitesides

Partner

George is a Partner at Convective and is the Chairman of the Space Advisory Board for Virgin Galactic. He is a mentor for the Isakowitz Fellowship Program and serves on a variety of philanthropic councils and boards, including Caltech's Space Innovation Council, Princeton's Advisory Council for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Science Advisory Board for Caltech's Space Solar Power Initiative.

Previously, George was Virgin Galactic's first CEO. Under his leadership, the company flew the first human spaceflight from US soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle, flew the first woman to space on a commercial space vehicle, and went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to Galactic, George served as NASA Chief of Staff for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden after working on President Obama's transition team in 2008.

George resides in Los Angeles, where he enjoys mountain biking with his wife and hiking with his kids.