Stephen Attenborough is a leading figure in the commercial space industry and the former Chief Customer Officer and Commercial Director of Virgin Galactic, where he spent 18 years helping turn Sir Richard Branson’s vision of commercial human spaceflight into a global business.
At Richard Branson’s personal invitation, Stephen joined Virgin Galactic in 2004 as the company’s first full-time employee. His mission was to establish the commercial foundations of what aimed to become the world’s first passenger-carrying commercial spaceline and to help create an entirely new market for private space travel.
Over nearly two decades, Stephen played a central role in building Virgin Galactic’s brand, commercial strategy and customer proposition. He led activities spanning sales, marketing, customer experience, communications and partnerships, while also contributing to the development of the astronaut experience and to key regulatory, insurance and liability frameworks required for commercial human spaceflight.
As Chief Customer Officer, Stephen was responsible for designing and overseeing the customer journey from initial engagement through preparation for the transformative experience of spaceflight. His work brought him into close contact with an international community of future astronauts, entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders.
His 18 years with Virgin Galactic encompassed some of the defining milestones in the emergence of the commercial space sector, including the development and testing of a new generation of human spaceflight vehicles, Virgin Galactic becoming the first publicly traded human spaceflight company, and Richard Branson’s landmark flight to space in 2021.
Today, Stephen remains closely involved in the future of space and purpose-driven business. He is Strategic Advisor and European Lead at Space Perspective, a company developing a new approach to human spaceflight through stratospheric balloon journeys. He is also a Trustee and Board Member of Virgin Unite, the Virgin Group’s independent charitable foundation, and serves on the Advisory Board of Space for Humanity, a nonprofit organisation working to expand access to space and promote the transformative potential of the human spaceflight experience.
Before entering the space industry, Stephen built a successful career in investment management in the City of London, including as a Director at Gartmore. His move from finance to Virgin Galactic gave him a unique perspective on entrepreneurship, calculated risk-taking and what it takes to build a business in a market that does not yet exist.
As an international keynote speaker, Stephen draws on his experience at the forefront of one of the most ambitious entrepreneurial ventures of recent decades. He explores innovation, customer experience, leadership, entrepreneurship, purpose and the commercial space economy, sharing practical lessons about turning bold ideas into reality, building markets from scratch and keeping customers at the heart of transformational innovation.
