PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PsiQuantum today announced the creation of the company’s inaugural Government Advisory Board (GAB), which brings together a diverse group of leaders with decades of public service in the White House, the Departments of Defense and Commerce, the Intelligence Community, and the U.S. Congress. Although currently focused on priorities pertaining to U.S. Government, PsiQuantum plans to expand the Government Advisory Board to include leaders from other allied nations as well.
The creation of the Government Advisory Board is a natural progression of the company’s longstanding partnerships with the U.S. and allied governments. Since PsiQuantum’s founding in 2015, the company has recognized the critical importance of quantum computing technologies to national and international interests and is committed to operating as a trusted partner to the U.S. and other allied governments.
PsiQuantum ensures that its government partners are kept apprised of technological progress against key milestones and new breakthroughs in fault tolerant quantum applications as well as the critical economic and national security implications therein. In turn, PsiQuantum relies on government partners to ensure the company is cognizant of their most pressing challenges to better understand how fault tolerant quantum computing could address those problems.
The inaugural members of the GAB will provide the PsiQuantum executive team with invaluable perspectives and strategic insights gained from their prior government experience as well-established leaders in their respective fields. Through this Board, PsiQuantum will also be better placed to continue its work developing public-private partnerships across the U.S. and allied governments.
Following the announcement, Jeremy O’Brien, PsiQuantum CEO, said:
“We are grateful for the deep experience and perspective that each member of the Government Advisory Board will be able to share. Both PsiQuantum and the members of the Board strongly believe in the transformational impact of quantum computing – and the role it will play in the future of our collective prosperity and national security as an emerging technology of significant strategic importance.”
The Inaugural Members of the PsiQuantum Advisory Board include:
- Ronnie Chatterji, Ph.D. is the Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy at Duke University. Ronnie works at the intersection of academia, public policy and business, investigating the most important forces shaping our economy and society. His primary appointment is in the Fuqua School of Business, from where he has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in the top journals in strategic management, economics, finance and organizational studies. Chatterji is committed to public service, both at the national level and in his home state of North Carolina. He most recently held senior economic policy positions in the Biden Administration. Chatterji served as the White House CHIPS coordinator, overseeing the implementation of the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act, one of the largest industrial policy initiatives in a generation He was also the Acting Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, overseeing the Administration’s work on supporting American manufacturing, building more resilient supply chains, and driving technological innovation. Prior to his White House role, he served as the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was the principal economic adviser to the Secretary of Commerce and responsible for policy development related to U.S. competitiveness, innovation, trade and economic growth. Ronnie also previously worked for President Obama as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).
- Michèle Flournoy, is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and a Co-Founder, former Chief Executive Officer, and now Chair of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Michèle served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. In January 2007, Michèle co-founded CNAS, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic, and principled national security policies. She served as CNAS’ President until 2009 and returned as CEO in 2014. In 2017, she co-founded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm. In the mid-1990s, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy.
- Congressman Jim Langevin is the former Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation. A cybersecurity expert who is the cofounder and former cochair of the House Cybersecurity Caucus, Jim served Rhode Island’s second congressional district for 11 terms beginning in 2001 before retiring in early January 2023. Jim’s legislative work on cyber policy issues began in 2008, when he became Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science. Before serving in Congress, Langevin was first elected a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1988 and served as a state representative until he was elected Secretary of State of Rhode Island in 1994.
- Vice Admiral Bob Sharp, USN (Ret.), served as the Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, one of our nation’s premier intelligence agencies, from February 2019 until June 2022. As Director, he and his team were responsible for delivering world-class geospatial intelligence to provide a decisive advantage to policy makers, military service members, intelligence professionals, first responders, and international partners. He was accountable for over 14,000 civilian, military and contractor employees working around the clock and globe in over 120 locations world-wide. Bob served as a Naval Intelligence Officer for over 34 years, and as a leader within the Navy’s Information Warfare Community since its inception. He has decades of leadership experience in the Intelligence, Defense, and National Security arenas. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Pacific and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He is currently the CEO of B Sharp – Global Solutions, doing a combination of consulting, advisory and fellowship work focused on helping people who are trying to make the world a better place succeed.
About PsiQuantum
PsiQuantum is a private company, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The company’s only mission is to build and deploy the world’s first useful, large-scale quantum computer. Many teams around the world today have demonstrated prototype quantum computing systems, but it is widely accepted that much larger systems are necessary in order to unlock transformational applications across drug discovery, climate technologies, finance, transportation, security & defense and beyond. PsiQuantum’s photonic approach enables rapid scaling via direct leverage of high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and cryogenic infrastructure. The company is partnered with a number of government entities including: the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and Sci-Tech Daresbury in the United Kingdom. Learn more at www.psiquantum.com.
