Executive Management

Michael A. Colglazier is the CEO of Virgin Galactic Holdings, a vertically-integrated aerospace and space travel company. Virgin Galactic is at the forefront of commercial space exploration and the development of technology that will change the way we travel across the globe in the future.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Michael served as President and Managing Director of Disney Parks International. Previously, Michael was the President of The Disneyland Resort in Southern California. Michael had an extensive career at Disney spanning over 30 years, where he drove new businesses and growth strategies across the world with a focus on product innovation and customer growth.

Michael is highly experienced in leading both large workforces and start-up teams to deliver business performance and growth. He has considerable commercial and managerial experience and a proven track record of successfully commercializing new and innovative products into world-class consumer experiences.

Michael is active in the community, currently serving as Chairman of the CEO Roundtable for the University of California, Irvine, and as a member of the Engineering Advisory Board of Rice University. He is also a past commissioner and member of the executive committee of the California Travel and Tourism Commission.

Michael graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Doug Ahrens is the CFO of Virgin Galactic Holdings. Doug has over 25 years of operational and strategic finance experience at multinational corporations. He has led global teams at rapidly growing public and privately held companies in complex technology and manufacturing environments. Doug has deep experience helping global manufacturing companies scale and grow, and expertise in capital markets and M&A.

Most recently, Doug served as CFO of Mellanox, a public company in the semiconductor industry, where he was responsible for all finance functions until the successful acquisition of Mellanox by NVIDIA Corporation in 2020. Previously, Doug served as CFO of GlobalLogic, a large software engineering company experiencing rapid growth. Prior to that, Doug was CFO of Applied Micro Circuits, a public semiconductor company.

Earlier in his career, Ahrens spent over a decade at Maxim Integrated Products, leading financial planning and coordinating M&A activities. He also held a variety of financial positions at Intel Corporation and was an Environmental Engineer at Chevron Corporation.

Doug holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He also holds an active CPA license in California and has a private pilot license.

Stephen is the Commercial Director for Virgin Galactic, joining the company as its first full-time employee in 2004, with responsibility for laying the commercial foundations and framework for the organization, including spearheading ongoing sales, business development, marketing, public relations, licensing, partnerships, and customer retention initiatives.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Stephen worked for Gartmore Investment Management, a major London-based investment management firm, where he performed a number of management and senior management activities for more than 15 years. At Gartmore, his roles focused on the company’s relationship with sophisticated institutional and high net worth clients and prospective clients.

Alistair oversees Information Technology strategy and infrastructure for Virgin Galactic Holdings, which supports the company’s overall business strategy.

Alistair has over 25 years of experience working in some of the largest global companies in a wide variety of industries ranging from manufacturing to media.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Alistair was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at OSI Systems, a designer and manufacturer of specialized electronic systems and components for critical applications. In this role, Alistair worked across a range of industries including security, defense, aerospace and healthcare.

Alistair has also held several senior leadership positions at FTSE 100-listed manufacturing giant Meggitt Plc, specializing in components and subsystems for aerospace, defense and energy markets. Earlier in his career, Alistair spent over 15 years at Thomson Reuters where he was responsible for managing the large-scale technology infrastructure that powers the world’s financial, news and media markets.

Swami Iyer is the President of Aerospace Systems for Virgin Galactic Holdings. He is responsible for leading the manufacturing, engineering, and program management teams, processes, and facilities to support the design and build of our current and future fleet of vehicles. He has over 20 years of experience in commercial and highly classified aerospace, defense and cyber industries.

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Swami served as President of GKN Advanced Defense Systems, which provides advanced components and technology to leading military aircraft and helicopters and, before this, served as Chief Executive Officer of Israel Aerospace Industries North America, which provides systems and intelligence to the aerospace, land, sea, and cyber domains.  He was also the President of Ultra Electronics, 3eTI, which specializes in application-engineered solutions for defense, security, and critical detection and, prior to that, was Vice President, Defense & Space at Honeywell Aerospace, where he led multiple, international and domestic defense programs.

An accomplished U.S. Air Force test pilot, Swami logged more than 3,500 hours during his military flying career.  He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan as well as a Master’s degree in Flight Test Engineering from the United States Air Force Test Pilot School.

Michelle Kley is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Virgin Galactic Holdings. Michelle is responsible for overseeing all legal affairs for Virgin Galactic Holdings and its subsidiaries, including corporate governance, securities law and NYSE compliance, M&A activity and strategic transactions. She also acts as Corporate Secretary and advises the board of directors. She leads a team who manages the day to day legal and compliance matters of the operating subsidiaries

Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Michelle was the Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Secretary of Maxar Technologies Inc., a space infrastructure and Earth intelligence company. Prior to joining Maxar, Michelle worked as a Corporate Associate for several law firms in San Francisco, including Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C. and Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Michelle is a member the International Institute of Space law and is on the board of directors of its US affiliate, the US Center for Space Law. She previously served as a member of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) and was the chair of the Remote Sensing Regulatory Reform Working Group.

Michelle graduated from University of California Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) with a J.D. degree and from Sonoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. Michelle is admitted to practice in the State of California and District of Columbia. She is based in our Los Angeles office.

Mike oversees the commercial human spaceflight program. He leads the team in all aspects of safe and successful spaceline operations, including WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicle processing, flight planning, astronaut training, and flight crew operations.

Mike came to Virgin Galactic following a distinguished career with NASA. From 2008 through July 2011, he served at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the Launch Integration Manager, where he led all space shuttle processing activities from landing through launch. Mike also chaired the Mission Management Team where he provided ultimate shuttle launch decision authority. Other NASA experience includes working as a Flight Director at the Johnson Space Center, where he led teams of flight controllers in the planning, training, and execution of space shuttle missions. Before being selected as a Flight Director in 2005, Mike had more than 10 years of experience as a flight controller in the Shuttle Propulsion and Electrical Systems Groups.

Mike attended Purdue University, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering. He also earned a master’s degree in space sciences from Florida Institute of Technology. He is a two-time recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, as well as other NASA commendations and awards.

Diane Prins Sheldahl is the Executive Vice President of People and Organization for Virgin Galactic Holdings. Diane is responsible for leading the Company’s people organization for both VG and The Spaceship Company (TSC). Her team is responsible for VG’s and TSC’s organizational design and effectiveness, global human capital strategy and execution of human resources (HR) strategic initiatives.

Diane has over 20 years’ experience in executive leadership roles in HR, as well as in organizational design and effectiveness for start-ups, high growth, and Fortune 50 companies across various high-tech, emerging and mature industries. 

Prior to working at Virgin Galactic, Diane held prominent HR positions at Abbott Laboratories, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, SpaceX and most recently Calix, Inc. At Calix, Inc, as Senior Vice President, Talent and Culture, she led all aspects of human resources and the workplace experience.

She earned her MBA from University California, Irvine and a Bachelor’s in Industrial Relations from Syracuse University, New York.

Seth Zaslow is the Vice President of Investor Relations for Virgin Galactic. Seth is responsible for leading the Company’s investor relations program. In this role, he serves as the primary liaison between Virgin Galactic and the investment community overseeing all aspects of investor relations policies and initiatives.

Seth has over 20 years of experience in various investor relations and finance roles. Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Seth led the investor relations program for AMC Networks. During his tenure at AMC, Seth oversaw the creation of the investor relations function in connection with AMC’s successful spin-off from Cablevision Systems Corporation. Prior to AMC, Seth held various senior financial and operational roles at Cablevision and Time Warner Inc. (predecessor to WarnerMedia).

Seth holds a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Binghamton University.