Salvatore Tory Bruno

Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance CEO, Named to Wash100 for Rocket Development & Customer Interface Leadership

Executive Mosaic is honored to announce Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, as an inductee into the 2017 edition of the Wash100 — Executive Mosaic’s annual selection of the most influential voices in the government contracting arena.

Bruno assumed the president and CEO roles at launch services company ULA in August 2014 to succeed Michael Gass, who retired after eight years at the helm of the joint venture owned equally by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA).

He was president and general manager of strategic and missile defense systems at Lockheed, where he has worked since 1984, before he joined ULA.

Centennial, Colo.-based ULA partnered with Jeff Bezos-backed spaceflight company Blue Origin soon after Bruno’s appointment in efforts to build a new rocket engine that would serve as an alternative to the Russia-made RD-180.

He said at the time that ULA’s investment in the development of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine works to bring down costs and drive innovation in engine development.

ULA also sought to develop a reusable Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage for its future Vulcan launch vehicles to support large-scale operations in low Earth orbit.

Bruno noted the practicality of large-scale infrastructure and economic pursuits in space as he envisions a future of on-orbit human habitation and activities.

In 2016, he announced the company’s effort to reassess its cost structure for space launch services with the emergence of competition in the field, adding that ULA has already reduced supply chain costs by 35 percent and cycle times by 50 percent.

The company also unveiled the RocketBuilder website that would provide customers options for launch dates, rocket configuration, orbit and service, along with corresponding pricing data to support decision-making during spacecraft development.

“Comparing not only the cost of a mission but [also] the important value items such as schedule certainty is critical for customers,” Bruno said.

Executive Mosaic congratulates Tory Bruno and the ULA team for their selection to receive this award.