Shai Weiss: 9 Facts About His Career and Leadership
The former Virgin Atlantic chief led the airline through one of aviation’s toughest periods and now serves on the board of business travel company Navan.
Introduction
Shai Weiss is a British business executive best known for leading Virgin Atlantic from January 2019 until the end of December 2025.
His career goes much wider than airlines.
He has worked in investment banking, venture capital, telecoms and senior corporate leadership. He also spent years working across the wider Virgin business group before taking charge of Virgin Atlantic.
As of September 2026, Weiss is no longer Virgin Atlantic CEO. Corneel Koster took over that job on 1 January 2026.
Weiss now serves on the board of Navan, the business travel and expense management company.
That is his main verified public role right now.
Quick Facts About Shai Weiss
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Shai Joseph Weiss |
| Born | March 1968 |
| Age | 58 in 2026 |
| Nationality | British |
| Profession | Business executive and company director |
| Known for | Former CEO of Virgin Atlantic |
| Virgin Atlantic CEO | January 2019 to December 2025 |
| Current role | Navan board director |
| Education | Baruch College and Columbia Business School |
| Former company role | Director at Check Point Software Technologies |
Who Is Shai Weiss?
Shai Weiss is a senior business leader with experience across finance, technology investments, telecoms and aviation.
Most people know his name because of Virgin Atlantic.
He joined the airline’s senior management years before becoming CEO. First came finance. Then commercial leadership. After that, he took the top job.
His timing was tough.
Just over a year after Weiss became chief executive, the COVID-19 pandemic brought international aviation close to a standstill.
Virgin Atlantic faced a serious financial test.
Weiss remained CEO throughout that period and stayed in the role until December 2025.
Shai Weiss’ Early Life
Weiss grew up in Jerusalem.
He has spoken publicly about his family background in interviews. His mother was born in London in 1939 after her parents escaped from the Netherlands, while his paternal grandparents came to Israel from Poland.
Before building his business career, Weiss completed military service.
He later told The Guardian that he extended his compulsory service and became a platoon commander in the tank corps.
His professional path then moved overseas.
In the 1990s, he built his career in finance and later moved to the UK.
Education
Weiss studied in New York.
He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College, part of the City University of New York.
He later completed an MBA at Columbia Business School.
That business and finance training became the base for his early work in banking and investment.
Starting His Career at Morgan Stanley
One of Weiss’ early confirmed roles was at Morgan Stanley.
He worked as a senior associate in technology investment banking.
This gave him direct experience in corporate finance and technology businesses before he moved into venture capital and company management.
He later relocated to Britain while working in investment banking.
That move became an important career change.
His later work would connect him with several businesses that became closely tied to the Virgin brand.
Work With Jerusalem Venture Partners
Weiss also worked with Jerusalem Venture Partners, often known as JVP.
He helped establish the venture capital firm’s European office.
JVP invests in technology companies, so the role kept Weiss close to finance, investment decisions and growing businesses.
It was another step away from traditional banking.
Then came telecoms.
NTL, Telewest and Virgin Media
Before joining Virgin Atlantic, Weiss held senior roles at ntl:Telewest.
His work included financial planning, operations and consumer products.
The company later became closely tied to Virgin Media.
Weiss’ professional records connect him with the period when Virgin Mobile UK and ntl:Telewest came together and the Virgin Media brand was built.
That experience placed him inside the wider Virgin business network long before he became an airline CEO.
Joining the Virgin Group
Weiss’ connection with Virgin dates back to 2006.
He became a founding partner of the Virgin Green Fund, an investment business focused on environmental and resource-efficiency companies.
He later worked as an investment partner at Virgin Management Limited between 2012 and 2014.
By then, his work had moved through several fields.
Banking. Venture capital. Telecoms. Investment.
Aviation came next.
Becoming Virgin Atlantic CFO
In July 2014, Weiss joined Virgin Atlantic’s executive team as Chief Financial Officer.
The job put him in charge of major financial matters inside one of Britain’s best-known airlines.
His responsibilities grew.
In January 2017, he moved into the position of Chief Commercial Officer.
That job covered major commercial areas such as revenue, market planning, airline partnerships, loyalty and marketing.
Two years later, he became CEO.
Shai Weiss as Virgin Atlantic CEO
Weiss became Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Atlantic in January 2019.
He succeeded Craig Kreeger.
The first year gave him time to settle into the role.
Then everything changed.
COVID-19 hit global aviation in 2020.
Flights were cut. Borders closed. Passenger numbers fell sharply.
Virgin Atlantic needed major financial support to keep operating.
Under Weiss’ leadership, the airline completed a privately funded recapitalisation worth about £1.2 billion in September 2020.
The company also cut costs heavily.
Jobs were lost.
Virgin Atlantic later reported that employment had fallen by about 41% during the crisis.
It was a hard period for the airline and its staff.
Virgin Atlantic Joined SkyTeam
Another major change came in March 2023.
Virgin Atlantic joined the SkyTeam airline alliance.
The move gave Virgin Atlantic customers access to a wider network through partner airlines around the world.
It also placed the carrier alongside airlines including Delta Air Lines, Air France and KLM within the alliance.
Flight100 and Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Weiss also became closely linked with Virgin Atlantic’s work on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, commonly called SAF.
On 28 November 2023, Virgin Atlantic operated Flight100 from London Heathrow to New York JFK.
The Boeing 787 flight used 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
The UK government and Virgin Atlantic described it as the first commercial airline transatlantic flight of its type using 100% SAF.
Weiss travelled on the flight with Virgin founder Richard Branson and other passengers.
The flight was meant to test what cleaner aviation fuel could do.
But the wider problem remained simple: enough SAF still needs to be produced at a price airlines can actually use at scale.
Virgin Atlantic Returned to Profit
Virgin Atlantic reported a much stronger financial position for 2024.
The airline recorded about £3.3 billion in revenue.
It also reported £230 million in EBIT and a £20 million profit before tax and exceptional items.
The airline described 2024 as its first profitable year since the pandemic.
Virgin Atlantic also repaid £174 million of pandemic-related debt during the year.
For Weiss, those figures marked a very different position from the crisis the airline had faced in 2020.
Why Did Shai Weiss Leave Virgin Atlantic?
Virgin Atlantic announced in October 2025 that Weiss would step down at the end of that year.
His last day as CEO was 31 December 2025.
Corneel Koster became Virgin Atlantic’s new CEO on 1 January 2026.
Companies House records also show that Weiss’ Virgin Atlantic directorships ended on 31 December 2025.
So any page still describing him as the current Virgin Atlantic CEO is outdated.
He led the airline for seven years.
What Is Shai Weiss Doing Now?
As of September 2026, Weiss serves as a director of Navan, Inc.
Navan provides business travel and expense management services.
Weiss joined its board on 28 January 2026.
He also serves on Navan’s Audit Committee.
His term as a Class III director is scheduled to run until the company’s 2028 annual meeting, subject to normal board rules.
This is his clearest verified role since leaving Virgin Atlantic.
Check Point Board Role
Weiss also spent several years on the board of cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies.
He served as a director from 2018 until September 2025.
He did not stand for another term after that.
The role meant Weiss was sitting on the board of a major technology business at the same time that he was running Virgin Atlantic.
Shai Weiss’ Wife and Children
Weiss has spoken publicly about his family, though he generally keeps that part of his life away from business coverage.
In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, he said he had been married for 24 years.
He also said he had two sons, who were aged 19 and 17 at the time.
Older public profiles have described him as living in London with his family.
That information should be treated as historical rather than proof of his exact home in 2026.
Personal Interests
Weiss is a known Arsenal supporter.
He has previously been described as a season-ticket holder.
Basketball has also appeared among his publicly mentioned interests.
These details give a little more context around the executive away from board meetings and airline strategy.
Shai Weiss’ Salary and Business Compensation
Public information about Weiss’ personal wealth is limited.
There is no reliable public figure that proves his total net worth, so unsupported net-worth estimates should be avoided.
Some compensation information is available.
A 2022 Guardian profile reported that his Virgin Atlantic CEO pay at the time was £700,000, with the possibility of an annual bonus of up to £1.05 million.
That was historical Virgin Atlantic compensation.
It is not his current salary.
His Navan board package is more recent and appears in company filings.
When Weiss joined the Navan board in January 2026, he received an initial restricted stock unit award with a grant-date value of $450,000.
The company’s director compensation policy also provided a $35,000 annual board retainer and a $10,000 annual Audit Committee retainer.
He was also eligible for an annual restricted stock award under Navan’s director compensation arrangements.
Those figures relate to board compensation, not personal net worth.
Public Speaking
Weiss has appeared in major business interviews and public talks.
In 2022, TED published his talk titled “A vision for sustainability in aviation.”
He discussed how airlines could cut their environmental impact and the role alternative aviation fuels may play.
He also took part in UK aviation policy discussions while running Virgin Atlantic.
His public work included involvement with groups connected to aviation and lower-carbon flight.
9 Key Facts About Shai Weiss
- Shai Weiss was born in March 1968.
- He grew up in Jerusalem.
- He studied at Baruch College.
- He earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.
- He worked at Morgan Stanley early in his career.
- His work with the Virgin group started in 2006.
- He became Virgin Atlantic CEO in January 2019.
- He left Virgin Atlantic on 31 December 2025.
- He joined the Navan board in January 2026.
Final Thought
Shai Weiss spent years working inside Virgin businesses before most people knew his name.
Virgin Atlantic changed that.
His seven-year run as CEO covered a pandemic, a major financial rescue, airline restructuring, SkyTeam membership, the Flight100 SAF project and the carrier’s return to profit.
Now his career has moved again.
As of September 2026, Weiss is a former Virgin Atlantic CEO and a Navan board director.
That is the clearest way to describe his current professional position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Shai Weiss?
Shai Weiss is a British business executive best known as the former CEO of Virgin Atlantic.
Is Shai Weiss still CEO of Virgin Atlantic?
No. He left the role on 31 December 2025.
Who replaced Shai Weiss at Virgin Atlantic?
Corneel Koster became Virgin Atlantic CEO on 1 January 2026.
What does Shai Weiss do now?
As of September 2026, he serves on the board of Navan and its Audit Committee.
How old is Shai Weiss?
He was listed as 58 years old in Navan’s 2026 company filings.
Where did Shai Weiss study?
He studied at Baruch College and later earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Did Shai Weiss work at Morgan Stanley?
Yes. He worked in technology investment banking at Morgan Stanley early in his career.
Is Shai Weiss married?
He publicly said in a 2022 interview that he had been married for 24 years and had two sons.
