ULA President Tory Bruno Tours Florida Tech Campus
The Day After Delivering Smith Lecture, Bruno Visits with Campus Community
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Salvatore T. “Tory” Bruno, president and chief executive officer of United Launch Alliance, spent several hours Tuesday on the Florida Tech campus.
After breakfast with faculty leaders and more than a dozen students, he spent about an hour at the Harris Student Design Center, learning about the cutting-edge facility and interacting with students, including several working on a project with the assistance of ULA.
He also popped in for an impromptu tour of the machine shop across from the design center.
“These kids are so bright and they’re so articulate, and the projects their working on are very, very meaningful and a couple of them, for us, that we will actually use on our launchpad,” Bruno said.
He added, “What they’re doing now, the projects we’re sponsoring, that will probably just flow right forward and be in our infrastructure, and with any luck, perhaps they’ll join us and do more great things for us.”
The visit came a day after Bruno headlined the spring F. Alan Smith Distinguished Lecture. Before a full house at the Hartley Room, he presented, “ULA’s Transformation and Vision for the Future of Space Launch.”
The event was co-sponsored by the Melbourne Regional Chamber of East Central Florida, Missile, Space and Range Pioneers and the National Space Club Florida Committee.
At ULA, considered the nation’s most experienced space launch company with 132 consecutive launches and a 100 percent mission success rate, Bruno serves as principal strategic leader. He oversees all business management and operations.
His presentation explored how ULA is transforming the future of space launch in its quest to make it more affordable and accessible. The company’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket will make the “impossible possible with capabilities that will allow a thriving lunar economy and extend the reaches of space exploration for generations to come,” according to a ULA summary.
Prior to joining ULA, Bruno was vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Strategic and Missile Defense Systems. He joined Lockheed Martin in 1984. He previously served as vice president and general manager of FBM and ICBM, as vice president of the THAAD Missile, as vice president of Engineering, as chief engineer for Strategic Missile Programs, as program manager for FBM Rocket Propulsion and in engineering positions involving design and analysis for control systems of rockets and hypersonic reentry vehicles.
The holder of several patents, Bruno earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, and completed graduate courses and management programs at Harvard University, Santa Clara University, the Wye River Institute, San Jose State University and the Defense Acquisition University.
The lecture series’ founder and benefactor is F. Alan Smith. He spent more than three decades in leadership positions at General Motors in the U.S. and Canada, including serving as executive vice president of finance of General Motors and president and general manager of General Motors of Canada, Ltd.
Smith, who now lives in Indialantic, has served on Florida Tech’s Board of Trustees since 1996.
The lecture series began in 2007 as the F. Alan Smith Visiting Executive Program. It was created to attract corporate executives to speak to students, faculty and community leaders at Florida Tech. At least one executive speaker is welcomed to campus each spring and fall semester.
Find out more about the series at www.fit.edu/distinguished-lecture-series. For questions about the Smith Lecture, contact Florida Tech’s Office of Development at 321-674-8962.
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