Industry veteran takes the helm of Ursa Major 

BERTHOUD — Dan Jablonsky has been named CEO of Berthoud-based Ursa Major Technologies Inc., a private company focused on rocket and missile propulsion. Jablonsky replaces Ursa Major founder Joe Laurienti, the company’s leader for the past nine years.  

Jablonsky has held senior leadership roles in the aerospace and defense industry for more than a decade. Most recently, he served as president and CEO of space technology company Maxar Technologies Inc., based in Westminster, and led that company through its successful take-private acquisition by Advent International.

Previously, he held a variety of senior positions, including as president of satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe. He started his career as a surface warfare officer and nuclear engineer in the U.S. Navy before working as an attorney at corporate law firms, for the SEC, and in in-house roles, according to the release.

Jablonsky holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, he graduated from the Navy Nuclear Power School, and he earned his juris doctor  from the University of Washington School of Law.

“I have followed Ursa Major’s many successes over the past nine years and am confident in the impact that its advanced technology and manufacturing approaches will have on the space and defense communities for years to come,” Jablonsky said in the news release. “I am honored by Joe and the board’s trust and endorsement, and look forward to working with the team to enhance America’s national security and expand the United States’ critical space and defense infrastructure capabilities.”

Laurienti originally planned to bring Jablonsky into Ursa Major as an adviser, the release stated, but he quickly realized he was, instead, the right person to scale the company and lead it through its next stages of success. 

Ursa Major builds combustion engines for space launch and hypersonic applications, and builds solid rocket motors for missiles. The company successfully launched the Hadley rocket engine in March in a first flight that broke new ground, and recently won a significant number of new contracts.

Ursa Major announced the creation of a new R&D site in Youngstown, Ohio, that will help expand and accelerate Ursa Major’s new material development, the release stated.

Ursa Major customers range from “New Space” startups to enterprise-level aerospace leaders and the U.S. government. 

The company in June 2023 confirmed to CNBC that it had laid off an undisclosed number of workers, which a source told CNBC totaled about 27% of Ursa Major’s workforce.

Ursa Major announced in November 2023 that it closed $138 million in its Series D and D-1 funding rounds. Investors included Explorer 1 Fund and Eclipse; RTX Ventures; funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Mack & Co., XN, SV Pacific Ventures; and other institutional shareholders.