Contents

Will Pomerantz

Will Pomerantz
Pomerantz speaks on space travel at TEDxPCC in 2013
Alma mater	Harvard University International Space University NASA Academy
Employer(s)	X Prize Foundation Virgin Galactic Virgin Orbit
Organization	Brooke Owens Fellowship
Spouse	Diana Trujillo ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	2

William Pomerantz is Vice President of Special Projects at Virgin Orbit. He was part of the team that created Virgin Orbit while working at Virgin Galactic. He is the co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and a trustee of the United States Students for the Exploration and Development of Space organisation.

Pomerantz was born in 1980 in Buffalo, New York. His parents are Sandra Pomerantz, a social worker and lawyer, and James Pomerantz, a cognitive psychologist.^[1][2] His step-mother is Mary McIntire, Dean of Continuing Studies at Rice University.^[1] Pomerantz studied Earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University. During his undergraduate degree he studied at the NASA Academy.^[3] He completed a master's degree at the International Space University, working in the Information, Communication and Space Technology group at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.^[1] Pomerantz co-founded the website SpaceAlumni with Nicholas Skytland in 2004, a social media platform for young space professionals, acting as chief editor until 2007.^[3][4] He worked at Brown University as a planetary scientist, identifying surface features on Mars.^[5]

After graduate school Pomerantz joined Futron, an aerospace consultancy that eventually became acquired by Avascent.^[6]

In 2005 Pomerantz joined X Prize Foundation, acting as Director of Space Prizes.^[3] He was promoted to Senior Director of Space Projects and helped to create both the Google Lunar X Prize and Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.^[7]

In 2010, Pomerantz contributed a chapter to the textbook Space Commerce.^[8] He joined Virgin Galactic in 2011 and was appointed vice president.^[9][10] He was determined to use the SpaceShipTwo to support educational and research payloads as well as space tourism.^[10][11]

He spoke at the 2013 TEDxPCC at the Expanding Horizons of Understanding event, where he discussed why humans explore space.^[12] Pomerantz led the effort to launch the LauncherOne, which allows people to launch small satellites from an air-launched system.^[13] He was the first employee of Virgin Orbit, which will 3D print rockets and engines for satellite launches.^[14]

His wife is the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Diana Trujillo.^[3]

He has advised the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Federal Aviation Administration.^[3][15] He was a judge at the inaugural Mayor of Los Angeles Cup, an entrepreneurship challenge to improve Los Abgeles for citizens.^[16] He has written for HuffPost.^[17] Pomerantz is the chair of the Board of Advisors for the American organisation Students for the Exploration and Development of Space and on the advisory board for the Waypaver Foundation.^[18] He is on the editorial board of Room, the space journal.^[19]

In 2016, Pomerantz established the Brooke Owens Fellowship, a mentoring scheme which champions women in aerospace. The fellowships offer undergraduate women positions in the space sector and assigns them a personal mentor working in industry.^[20] He co-founded the fellowship with Lori Garver and Cassie Kloberdanz Lee.^[21]