Stephen Attenborough leads all commercial activities for Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which is on track to become the world’s first passenger carrying commercial spaceline. Attenborough was invited by Richard Branson to join Virgin Galactic as the company’s first full time employee in 2004 to put in place the commercial foundations of the business and to create a new market for private space travel. He now leads all activities, covering brand management, sales, marketing, customer care,... Read More
Stephen Attenborough leads all commercial activities for Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which is on track to become the world’s first passenger carrying commercial spaceline.
Attenborough was invited by Richard Branson to join Virgin Galactic as the company’s first full time employee in 2004 to put in place the commercial foundations of the business and to create a new market for private space travel. He now leads all activities, covering brand management, sales, marketing, customer care, communications, education and outreach, as well as partnerships for the human spaceflight business. This work has now attracted around 700 future astronauts from more than 50 countries along with US$80m in deposits.
Attenborough has also been responsible for work-streams, investigating and now building the non-tourism applications for the new space vehicles, particularly science research and the small satellite launch.
Stephen Attenborough joined Virgin Galactic following a career in investment management in the City of London, most latterly as a Director at Fund Managers, Gartmore.
Lessons learnt from the Virgin Galactic story. Perspective of Space. How commercial space travel will change humanity’s perspective of our planet by expanding its horizons beyond just industrial applications.
Forging a brand new industry and building a purposeful and innovative brand from scratch. How working with a purpose attracts amazing people to join you on your journey and makes it easier to accomplish your end goal.
How we can build on our experiences and learn to progress forward and innovate our practices, to help exceed our original goals.
How Virgin Galactic managed to market and sell a product that had not been fully functional at the time of purchase, and did not have an exact date of completion.