Director talk: Dr Will Whitehorn OBE

What’s the number one skill you bring to the board? 

Probably 40 years of public company investing and non-exec experience along with 26 years of involvement in the space industry. As a result of my background in space from my time with Virgin Galactic, I can guide my fellow board members on the complexity of the industry, and they can guide me on the complexity of an investment trust! 

Unusually for an investment trust chair, I attend results meetings with the manager to help give analysts a wider perspective on the macro events underlying the growth of the revolution taking place a few hundred kilometres above our heads. 

Who’s been the biggest influence on your career? 

I have had several big individual influencers on my career. Clearly Sir Richard Branson was one. He is a fascinating, kind, unique, very bright person who taught me the art of seeing the simplicity in seemingly complex issues and finding solutions rather than just calling out problems for some other person to fix. The other was my lovely mum, who started buying me the Economist magazine at the age of 12. 

What is the proudest moment of your career? 

I have had several very proud moments. One was riding on the first Pendolino Virgin Train out of Euston, having helped transform the West Coast rail line. Another was unveiling my first spaceship with Sir Richard and finally seeing Space Command up and running having spent four years on the board of the Royal Air Force as a vociferous advocate for getting our military act together in space. There’s still a way to go on achieving that! I am also very proud of what Mark Boggett and the Seraphim team have achieved and the day we joined the FTSE 250 was a very proud one.

What advice would you offer to new directors? 

Investment trusts are not like other public companies. The governance required is different. It is important to understand what’s being invested in, the sector, the macro issues affecting it and the attitudes of investors. But most importantly it is imperative to understand that as a board we are not only custodians of institutional equity but also lots of individual shareholdings and savings… it’s personal as well as corporate.
 

Away from work 

What’s your number one desert island disc? 

Desert island discs are very hard to choose when you have ten choices let alone one. I know, I helped Sir Richard Branson choose his over 30 years ago. I love Alison by Elvis Costello as it reminds me of being a fresher at Aberdeen University in 1977. I would also choose Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses, I sang it when my daughter Rose was born in 1990. But my number one is unusual and it reminds me of being a six year old driving to Inverness to see my cousins. It was a poem by Kenneth Macleod called The Road to the Isles and sung by the likes of Andy Stewart in the 1960s.

Of all the places you have visited on your travels, which comes top of the list and why? 

Another impossible question is favourite places… so many. I love our home here on the farm in West Sussex. But if I must choose somewhere exotic then it’s Japan and specifically Kyushu Island. I worked in Japan in the late 1980s/early 1990s for Virgin and fell in love with its beautiful gardens, its lovely people and the enormous contradictions.

If you had to cook for a dinner party, what would you make?

When I cook for dinner parties one of my favourites is a pheasant casserole with red wine, chestnuts and prunes.

What are you terrible at? 

Getting rid of anything. I am a compulsive hoarder! One of my stock phrases is ‘that’ll be useful’. And sometimes it is!

What is a hidden talent that few people know you have? 

I suppose my hidden talent is a kind of eidetic memory. If something interests me, I remember it visually in my head so I retain a lot of fairly useless but interesting information.