Jonathan Firth has been directly involved in the development of the commercial space industry in the US since 2004, when ‘SpaceShipOne’ reached suborbital space and won the ‘Ansari X-Prize’.
He was a member of the executive team that started up three space companies - Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit - establishing a viable and funded business plan for each. Those activities leveraged his accomplished programme management and business development experience in the commercial aviation, long distance rail, mass transit, and oil & gas industries. His career has evolved to where he now focuses mainly on start-up ventures.
Jonathan is a mechanical engineering graduate of Imperial College London and holds an MBA from Henley Business School, UK. He is a regular speaker at international events.
He is also the Founder and Director of the Las Cruces Space Festival, an annual celebration of space related activity and interest, which is held each April.
