David Kirtley.

David Kirtley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Helion Energy, the fusion company pursuing a distinctive magneto-inertial fusion approach using helium-3 fuel.

Kirtley founded Helion in 2013 and has raised over $600 million from investors including Sam Altman (who serves as Executive Chairman), Reid Hoffman, and Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital. In 2023, Helion made headlines by signing the world's first commercial fusion power purchase agreement with Microsoft, committing to deliver 50 megawatts of fusion-generated electricity to the tech giant by 2028-an extraordinarily ambitious timeline that would make Helion the first fusion company to generate commercial electricity. Kirtley previously worked at MSNW on advanced propulsion research, giving him deep expertise in plasma physics and pulsed power systems. Helion's approach differs fundamentally from magnetic confinement fusion being pursued by other companies, directly generating electricity from the fusion reaction rather than boiling water for steam turbines. Whether or not Helion meets its 2028 timeline, Kirtley's bold commitment to commercializing fusion on an aggressive schedule represents one of the most ambitious bets in American clean energy entrepreneurship.