Tory Bruno, the head of United Launch Alliance, has stepped down, the Centennial-based aerospace company announced Monday. 

Bruno left the company after leading it for 12 years to “pursue another opportunity,” said Robert Lightfoot and Kay Sears in a statement, ULA board chairs representing Lockheed Martin and Boeing, respectively.  

“We are grateful for Tory’s service to ULA and the country, and we thank him for his leadership,” the statement said.

The company named John Elbon, ULA’s chief operating officer, as its interim CEO effective immediately. Mark Peller will take Elbon’s former role as COO.

“We have the greatest confidence in John to continue strengthening ULA’s momentum while the board proceeds with finding the next leader of ULA,” the statement said. “Together with Mark Peller, the new COO, John’s career in aerospace and his launch expertise is an asset for ULA and its customers, especially for achieving key upcoming Vulcan milestones.”

ULA is one of the largest aerospace companies based in Colorado and is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It was founded in 2006.

It’s one of SpaceX’s largest competitors in supplying commercial rocket flights for both private and public missions. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Space Force awarded ULA’s Vulcan rocket a long-awaited certification to conduct National Security Space Launch missions, making it the second company after SpaceX to get the designation required to send military space satellites into orbit for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Last year, the company sent a rocket with humans on board for the first time in the company’s 19 year history.

While ULA successfully got NASA astronauts into space with its Atlas V rocket, the Boeing Starliner infamously couldn’t bring the astronauts back to Earth and SpaceX was sent to rescue them.

Bruno joined the company as CEO in 2014. Before that, he was an executive at Lockheed Martin.

His company bio credits him for turning ULA into a “competitive powerhouse” that made space launches more affordable and accessible. Bruno is an expert in rocketry and hypersonic technologies and holds several patents in the field.

“Thank you for the opportunity to lead this amazing team,” Bruno posted on Monday on X. “They have put ULA in a great position to do important things for our customers and nation.”