Quantinuum announced that Rajeeb (Raj) Hazra has been appointed CEO of Quantinuum, effective immediately.
Following his resignation, Quantinuum’s current CEO, Ilyas Khan, will remain a leader at the company.
He remains a member of the Board of Directors and will now become Vice President. Additionally, he will remain a full-time senior manager of the company and serve as Quantinuum’s first CPO, driving product development and innovation – a role Khan is passionate about.
Hazra has over three decades of experience in supercomputing, quantum and engineering functions around the world. He will work closely with Khan and the executive team to accelerate quantum computing and drive the company’s commercialization.
He will lead an organization that currently has more than 480 employees driving breakthroughs in drug discovery, healthcare, materials science, cybersecurity, energy conversion and climate change.
“Raj is uniquely qualified for this role having demonstrated his technical prowess in advanced technologies and supercomputing in both small and large organizations,” said Khan.
“His vision and leadership are just what we need to further accelerate our impact in the quantum computing sector and in society at large. He has an entrepreneurial spirit, a strategic mindset, a passion for software and hardware technologies, and leadership experience in developing new commercial opportunities for quantum computing. He will continue to ensure that Quantinuum is “science-led and enterprise-focused”. I look forward to working with Raj as we create knowledge and real solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges,” continued Khan.
“With Raj at the helm, Quantinuum is well positioned to continue to expand its influence in the emerging quantum business sector and address real challenges,” noted Darius Adamczyk, CEO of Quantinuum.
“The time is perfect to bring Raj into the company as we build momentum to drive the next chapter of the quantum industry. He will help the company drive high-speed innovation and entrepreneurship in the quantum industry. I am also grateful to Ilyas for his continued leadership in his new position and that he will continue to dedicate his energy to make Quantinuum successful,” added Adamczyk.
“I’m honored to step into the CEO role, where I look forward to focusing on helping Quantinuum grow and driving the innovations that will transform the way quantum computing positively impacts the world,” said Hazra.
“By building on the solid foundation Ilyas and the team have laid, we will accelerate Quantinuum into the future,” added Hazra.
“We are excited to take this next step at an important moment in the quantum computing industry,” said President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Uttley.
“We will continue to work with our customers and partners to eventually solve some of the world’s most intractable problems that traditional computing systems cannot allow, while continuing to meet our existing commitments,” continued Uttley.
Hazra was most recently SVP and GM, Compute and Networking Business Unit, and previously SVP, Corporate Strategy and Communications, at Micron Technology, where he was based in San Jose, California.
There he established the Corporate Strategy Office and worked closely with the CEO’s staff to define and implement a five-year strategic plan for the company.
As General Manager of the company’s largest and most profitable business unit, he was responsible for more than $12 billion in annual income and a global team in the US, Europe and Asia for business operations, market development and client support.
He previously spent 25 years at Intel Corporation, where he led the Enterprise and Government Group, the Technical Computing Group, Supercomputer Architecture and Planning, and Systems Technology Research.
There he transformed the organization to focus on a world of hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure, resulting in new products and partnerships.
He also transformed the company to achieve growth after several years of decline, with early-stage strategies to capitalize on the shift to hybrid multi-cloud and enterprise use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. He also has extensive technical experience leading teams of several hundred researchers spread across multiple regions.
Raj has a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India.
