CEO and President of Virgin Galactic, George T. Whitesides, will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 Visual Effects Society Summit on October 13th. Whitesides, who is responsible for guiding all aspects of the company to commercial operation at Spaceport America in New Mexico, will give the keynote address at the one-day industry-wide event which will be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey.
With Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic has developed the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles, based on the X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne. The company currently has deposits from over 455 individuals for its spaceflight experience.
Prior to Virgin Galactic, Whitesides served as Chief of Staff for NASA, where he provided policy and staff support to the agency’s Administrator. Whitesides also served as Executive Director of the National Space Society (NSS). NSS is a space policy and advocacy group that was founded by Apollo program leader Werner von Braun and the journalist Hugh Downs.
VES Chair, Jeffrey A. Okun states, “The annual VES Summit is a leader in terms of sparking imagination and generating new thinking. It is important to the Society not just to look ahead or rehash what happened last month but to explore the tools and business models that will lead to a successful future for our fast evolving industry.”
Eric Roth, VES Executive Director, adds, “Every year we try to provide an opportunity for the most seasoned professionals in our industry to come together for an exciting day of exploration and with George Whitesides giving our Keynote, we’ve hit the sweet spot once more.”
The 2012 VES Summit will convene a unique consortium of leading creatives, executives and visionaries to who will shine a light on the intersection between creative content and the business bottom line with a focus on how social media impacts decision making on all levels.
For more information and to register go to: www.visualeffectssociety.com/ves-summit-2012.
