May 26 2010

Loewy appoints Will Whitehorn as non-executive Chairman

Loewy has appointed Will Whitehorn as its new non-executive chairman. He replaces Mark Adams who took up the role in 2007 for a three-year term.

Whitehorn is known primarily for his role as president of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and his twenty-plus years working within the Virgin empire, mainly in a PR and corporate affairs capacity.

As non-executive chairman, Whitehorn will guide and counsel Loewy as the market emerges from the recession and the group embarks on a new phase of business growth and development. Fostering collaboration between Loewy group agencies, which cover design, research and marketing communications will be a key focus for him.

In addition to his non-executive role at Loewy, Whitehorn sits on the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the government funding body for scientific research in the UK and is non-executive chairman at Next Fifteen Communications plc.

Will has firsthand experience of industrial design projects. He helped oversee the development of Virgin’s Pendolino train and the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, the aircraft owned by the pilot Steve Fossett and sponsored by Virgin Atlantic which flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in a time of 67 hours 1 minute in 2005. He also plays an active role in the development of the Virgin Galactic space tourism business.

Loewy CEO Iain Johnston says: “We are extremely fortunate to have a business and design visionary of Will’s stature involved in Loewy. He will act as an inspiration to our agencies and his wealth of experience in industrial design, project management and PR complements our core business disciplines beautifully.

Whitehorn adds: “I have had the good fortune to experience the work of Loewy’s Seymourpowell as a client at Virgin Galactic and have been greatly impressed by their work. I look forward to helping foster collaborative output within the group at this exciting time in its development.