Xanadu Quantum Technologies has appointed Tara Deakin as chief people officer, effective as part of a leadership shift announced Sept. 22. Current chief people officer Rebecca Laramée will move into a new role as senior vice-president of human resources, working alongside Deakin on the company’s workforce initiatives as it grows.
The Toronto-based photonic quantum computing company said the appointment is meant to strengthen its leadership team as it scales toward building a utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
“Tara is an outstanding addition to our leadership team,” said Dr. Christian Weedbrook, founder and chief executive officer of Xanadu. “As we continue towards our vision of building a utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, her extensive experience in global enterprise transformation, leadership effectiveness, and aligning human capital with business strategy will be invaluable in scaling our organization with discipline and purpose. We are also immensely grateful to Rebecca for her leadership as Chief People Officer, and we look forward to her continued impact as Senior Vice President of Human Resources as we build out our global team.”
Deakin joins Xanadu from Spin Master, where she served as chief people officer and executive vice-president, with global responsibility for people strategy, corporate communications, real estate and workplace experience. During her time there, she helped guide the toy company through global expansion and entry into new product categories through organic growth and acquisition.
Earlier in her career, Deakin held executive roles spanning human resources, operations, talent and enterprise strategy at TD Bank Group, Citi and Rogers Communications. She also sits as an independent director and chair of the human resources committee at goeasy.
“Xanadu is building something truly extraordinary, and I’m excited to join at such an important point in the company’s evolution,” said Tara Deakin. “I look forward to partnering with Christian, Rebecca, and the broader team to build the organizational and leadership capabilities that will support Xanadu’s next stage of growth and advance the company’s mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.”
Founded in 2016, Xanadu builds fault-tolerant quantum computers using light-based systems designed to run at room temperature. The company also develops PennyLane, an open-source quantum computing platform, and trades on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol XNDU.
