George T. Whitesides

Whitesides was born on March 3, 1974, in Massachusetts. He was raised in Newton with his brother. His great-grandfather, James Breasted, was an egyptologist who coined the term "fertile crescent". While growing up, Whitesides played ice hockey and attended Newton North High School, where he graduated in 1992.

Whitesides went on to attend Princeton University, where he studied at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, earning his bachelor's degree in 1996. After graduating, he served for four years on Princeton's Board of Trustees. He later earned an MPhil in geographic information systems and remote sensing from King's College, Cambridge, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Tunisia.

Whitesides began his career in the space sector, where he served as executive director of the National Space Society from 2004 to 2008. He also co-founded Yuri's Night, an annual celebration of human spaceflight, alongside his wife Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides. During this period, he was named senior advisor to Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tourism company.

Whitesides worked on the 2008 presidential transition of Barack Obama. After Obama took office, he was appointed chief of staff of NASA, where he served until 2010 under Administrator Charles Bolden. Upon his departure, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the agency's highest award.

After leaving NASA, Whitesides became Virgin Galactic's first CEO and led the company for a decade. He oversaw the development of commercial spaceflight vehicles and managed operations at the Mojave Air and Space Port. During this time, he also chaired the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group for COMSTAC, the advisory committee for the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Division. Additionally, he served as a board member for Astronomers Without Borders and the Space Generation Foundation. He announced in 2021 his departure as CEO of Virgin Galactic while remaining in an advisory role with the company.

In December 2022, Whitesides co-sponsored a research parabolic flight with AstroAccess.

Whitesides is married to Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, with whom he has two children. He is Episcopalian.