Artist’s rendition of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Photo: ULA.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has named Vernon Thorp its new director of Global Commercial Sales. In this position he will lead all commercial sales activities for Atlas V and the company’s next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket launching next year. The previous head of Commercial Launch, Tiphaine Louradour, is now the president of International Launch Services (ILS).

Thorp has more than 30 years of experience supporting customers and missions and was recently ULA’s Commercial Program Manager. In this role he supported the sales of the first commercial Vulcan Centaur customer orders and has managed their mission integration efforts progressing towards the on-time first launch scheduled for 2021. He also oversaw Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial licensing activities and represented ULA on FAA committees specific to commercial spaceflight. He is a voting member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Commercial Space Standards Committee.

“Vern brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this position,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO. “Vern has been active in shaping the future of our commercial launch business activities for years leading acquisition and execution for many missions. This is a natural transition to leading global commercial sales and regulatory activities for Vulcan Centaur.”