Photonic expands leadership team
The photonic quantum computing startup aims to expedite development and delivery of quantum computing and networking milestones
Photonic, a company developing a quantum computing platform using silicon photonics, has announced it is scaling up its executive leadership team in the areas of research and development, materials science, quantum technologies, marketing, human resources, and legal.
“Photonic has searched extensively for the right talent to help us achieve our ambitious goals,” said Paul Terry, CEO at Photonic. “We are confident that, with these roles filled by such high-calibre people, and our ongoing scientific advisory team, we will further accelerate progress on our path to make distributed quantum computing a commercial reality.”
Stephanie Simmons, founder and chief quantum officer of Photonic and co-chair of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy Advisory Board, added: “The quantum industry is starting to recognise the need for distributed quantum capabilities. Photonic’s architecture is unique on this front, and it is exciting to have industry veterans and innovators recognise this potential and join the relentless pursuit of scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant commercial quantum computing.”
In the areas of research and development, materials science, and quantum networks, the company has hired: Chantal Arena – who has 35 years’ experience in business strategy, materials science, and semiconductor devices fabrication – as vice president of research, development, and production – devices; and Klaus Schuegraf – who has led large technical teams at companies including PsiQuantum, Intel, SanDisk, Applied Materials, and Cymer/ASML – as vice president of research, development, and production – systems.
Three new scientific fellows to join Photonic are: Thomas Jennewein, a professor at Simon Fraser University and the Institute for Quantum Computing; Michael Thewalt, an emeritus professor at Simon Fraser University and co-founder of Photonic, who held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair for over 10 years; and Artem (Art) Cherkasov, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Precision Cancer Drug Design and professor at the University of British Columbia, who will provide expertise on how quantum technologies will provide value in drug discovery.
In the areas of marketing, human resources, and legal, Photonic has appointed Alison Berg, an original executive team member at the company, as chief marketing officer, as well as hiring Jessica Hodgson as vice president, people, and Neysa Finnie to lead Photonic’s legal strategy.
