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.