BURNABY, British Columbia, May 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems, software and services, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with two new senior hires, as well as the promotion of existing team members to critical new roles.
Michele Macready is joining D-Wave as Senior Vice President, Software, Cloud and Professional Services and Mark Snedeker joins D-Wave as Vice President, Professional Services, reporting to Macready. Jennifer Houston was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer and will continue to run the global marketing, brand and image, communications, demand generation, product marketing, and public affairs efforts for the company. Mark W. Johnson, Ph.D., was promoted to Vice President, Quantum Technologies and Systems Products. Macready and Johnson have also joined the D-Wave executive team. These strategic hires and promotions support ongoing expansion of D-Wave’s global customer and partner base, entry into new verticals and markets, as well as continued innovation for research and development.
“Business adoption of quantum computing is accelerating rapidly, and D-Wave’s number one focus is delivering customer value via practical application development. In order to achieve that, we’ve built a world-class team of both business leaders and scientific experts,” said Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave, “The caliber of talent at this company is unmatched in the industry. I’m confident that our newest additions and internal promotions are what we need to reach our business and development objectives and, ultimately, benefit our growing customer base.”
Michele Macready joins D-Wave as Senior Vice President, Software, Cloud and Professional Services after providing expertise as a consultant for the company for over three years. Macready has more than 25 years of experience as a technology consultant and start-up advisor, with an extensive track record of delivering innovative business strategies and complex technology projects. The founder of Illume Consulting, Macready worked closely with D-Wave for the past several years, including assisting with the definition and delivery of the company’s Leap™ quantum cloud service and playing an instrumental role in the product release of D-Wave’s latest generation quantum system, Advantage.
“As an outside consultant, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing D-Wave’s dedication to innovation and delivering customer business value firsthand,” said Michele Macready, Senior Vice President, Software, Cloud, and Professional Services, “I know what it takes to design, develop, and deliver cutting-edge technical products, and D-Wave has consistently shown that they’re a team capable of pushing the boundaries of innovation in the quantum computing market. It was an easy decision to join the company full-time as we continue to expand our global reach and real-world customer impact. More and more organizations are tapping into quantum computing to develop practical applications and achieve real-world business objectives. I look forward to playing a role in the next chapter of quantum adoption and D-Wave’s growth.”
Mark Snedeker joins D-Wave as Vice President, Professional Services. In this new role, Snedeker will lead the team responsible for customer onboarding, working closely with client partners to discover, build, and apply in-production quantum applications for business and mission benefit. Prior to D-Wave, Snedeker spent 27 years at Accenture as a Managing Director delivering growth objectives through executive leadership, technology innovation, and operational excellence. At Accenture, he introduced quantum to the Accenture Federal Services business unit. For the past three years, he was the sector lead for the Department of Homeland Security, and has extensive experience delivering innovative technologies that change the way people work and live. This includes an international logistics system that was designated as a Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology and certified under the Safety Act as an ‘approved product for Homeland Security’. As a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group, he also worked with the International Organization for Standardization to help develop the International Project Management Standard.
“I am an enthusiastic evangelist for complex emerging technologies. When I began to learn about quantum computing, I recognized that it will be a game-changing technology that will need to be understood and managed,” said Mark Snedeker, Vice President, Professional Services at D-Wave. “At Accenture, I educated both clients and internal leadership, led the development of new capabilities in quantum computing, built demos and prototypes, and constructed a collaborative, strategic, ecosystem of the best quantum computing hardware and software vendors. Because of this, I had a front row seat to the quantum computing marketplace. I chose to come to D-Wave to combine my deep skills in delivering large-scale, multi-year client programs with D-Wave’s powerful quantum computing platform to deliver real, usable quantum technologies for customer benefit today.”
In addition to the new hires, D-Wave promoted two existing senior members to new roles within the leadership team.
Mark W. Johnson, Ph.D., was promoted to the role of Vice President, Quantum Technologies and Systems Products. Johnson, who most recently served as Vice President, Processor Design and Development, joined D-Wave in 2005 as an experimental physicist and superconducting circuit design engineer. He was instrumental in developing the world’s first commercial-ready quantum computer and subsequent iterations. This includes the development and delivery of the company’s fifth generation Advantage system, which is the most powerful and connected commercial quantum system ever built. Prior to D-Wave, Johnson was a scientist with the Superconductive Electronics Organization at the Space Park facility of Northrop Grumman, formerly TRW, Inc., where he developed superconductive analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processors for communications applications.
Jennifer Houston now serves as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, after serving as Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Public Affairs. Houston, who has led D-Wave’s global marketing, public affairs, and communications strategy for the past three years, brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology and software industries. Prior to D-Wave, Houston was Vice President of Marketing at Apptio and a vital member of the senior leadership team who led the company to its IPO in 2016. She helped establish Pluck Disrupt, a marketing and communications consulting firm, and built the first digital marketing business at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, an integrated communications and public relations agency known for its work with industry leaders like Microsoft.
About D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software and services and is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We do this by delivering customer value with practical quantum applications for problems as diverse as logistics, artificial intelligence, materials sciences, drug discovery, scheduling, cybersecurity, fault detection, and financial modeling. D-Wave’s systems are being used by some of the world’s most advanced organizations, including NEC, Volkswagen, DENSO, Lockheed Martin, USRA, USC, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave’s US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, BDC Capital, NEC Corp., and In-Q-Tel. For more information, visit: www.dwavesys.com.
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D-Wave Systems Inc.
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