Meet the Team

Senior Vice President, Quantum Technologies and Systems Products

Mark W Johnson has been involved in the development and commercialization of technology for nearly 25 years. Mark leads the R&D and quantum hardware programs. Mark joined D-Wave in 2005 as an experimental physicist and superconducting circuit design engineer to help develop, build, and deliver the world's first commercially available quantum computer. He continued to work with the D-Wave team to develop and release subsequent generations of quantum computers. Most recently, Mark led the development and delivery of the company’s 5th generation, and most powerful and connected commercial quantum system ever built, the Advantage system. Prior to joining D-Wave, Mark was a scientist with the Superconductive Electronics Organization at the Space Park facility of Northrop Grumman, formerly TRW, Inc., developing superconductive analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processors for communications applications. Mark holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Rochester.

Senior Vice President, Software, Algorithms and Cloud Services

Michele Macready’s career spans over 25 years as a technology executive, strategy and technology consultant, and startup advisor. Before joining D-Wave, Michele was Founder of Illume Consulting, where she worked with executives at high-tech startups, global technology companies, and universities to mentor and advise executives, build product roadmaps, and deliver leading-edge technology products in areas including quantum computing and machine learning. Prior to Illume, Michele was a Client Partner at Cambridge Technology Partners, where she led the largest strategy and technology project in their history as part of a multi-million-dollar project portfolio. As VP of Consulting at scientific consulting firm Bios Group, she worked with executives at Fortune 500 companies, using complexity theory to solve business problems. Michele was one of the first Alumni Coaches at IDEO U, and she has helped technology startups and non-profits build innovative technologies and deliver these to market.

Senior Vice President, People and Operational Excellence

Victoria Brydon is a seasoned business executive with 20 years of progressive and broad experience. Currently the Senior Vice President, People and Operational Excellence, Victoria leads the development and execution of talent strategy for D-Wave, and works cross functionally to provide executive oversight to ensure business operational excellence. Prior experience includes Kasian Architecture, Sierra Systems, and PMC-Sierra. Victoria holds a Masters of Business Administration from Royal Roads University, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University. Victoria is a Certified Executive Coach, and Chair of the Board of the BC SPCA where she also serves as President, and Chair of the Executive and Human Resources Committee.

Vice President, Corporate Marketing

Michelle Maggs is the Vice President of Corporate Marketing, leading D-Wave’s global communications, public relations, events and branding initiatives. She brings more than 20 years of communications experience in the technology sector, having worked with clients across a myriad of innovations including cloud-based services, aerospace solutions, e-commerce, enterprise software and connected entertainment products. Her expertise spans communications strategy, thought leadership, brand positioning and strategic storytelling. Prior to D-Wave, Maggs was Executive Vice President and Global Technology Practice lead at Current Global, a global PR firm that is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, and also worked at sister PR agency, Weber Shandwick, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Seattle office.

Vice President, Legal

Diane Nguyen joined D-Wave in 2018. She brings over 10 years of broad-based legal experience to D‑Wave, including experience in negotiating commercial agreements, corporate governance, business financing, intellectual property, and risk assessment.  

Currently the Vice President, Legal, she plays a central role in the identification and resolution of legal issues related to all aspects of D-Wave’s day-to-day operations with a focus on customer and reseller agreements. She also works with the executive team on certain strategic business decisions, oversees the proper governance of the company and leads the Intellectual Property team in the development and protection of D-Wave’s world-class patent portfolio. 

Prior to joining D-Wave, Diane was an attorney and trademark agent for a mid-size law firm in Quebec where she has negotiated numerous corporate finance transactions ranging from $250,000 to $50,000,000 and complex commercial agreements in a wide variety of industries.

Diane is a member of the bars of British Columbia and Quebec and is a registered trademark agent. She also holds a Master’s degree in Business Law from the University of Montreal.

Co-Founder and Chief Scientist

Eric Ladizinsky is a senior scientific management executive with a strong background in physics, engineering, materials, manufacturing and team building. Eric leads D-Wave's technical effort to develop the superconducting integrated circuit fabrication process and is often called upon to evangelize on all aspects of quantum computing. At Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW, Inc.), he ran a multi-million-dollar DARPA program in Quantum Computing using superconducting integrated circuit technology. Eric has a BSc. Physics and Mathematics degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and is an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Loyola Marymount University.

Chair of the Board, D‐Wave Quantum Inc. Managing Partner of Emerging Company Partners

Steven is a 30-year veteran of the information technology marketplace and currently the founder and a partner in Emerging Company Partners LLC, a technology consulting firm. Over the course of his career, he has held many executive positions, including president and CEO of Entera, an Internet content delivery firm (acquired by Blue Coat Systems, Inc.); CEO of Hitachi Data Systems; and Group Executive of EDS. Steven is a former board director at Cisco, where he served for 23 years, and Autodesk where he served for nine years. He also served on the boards of Delta-Q Technologies and Bycast Inc.

Chief Executive Officer, D‐Wave Quantum Inc.

Alan became the CEO of D-Wave in 2020. Previously, as Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Product Officer, he drove the development, delivery, and support of all of D-Wave’s products, technologies, and applications. He has over 25 years of experience in product development and bringing new products to market at leading technology companies and software startups. As the first president of JavaSoft at Sun Microsystems, Alan oversaw the growth and adoption of the Java platform from its infancy to a robust platform supporting mission-critical applications in nearly 80 percent of Fortune 1000 companies. He has also held executive positions at Symphony, Avaya, Cisco, and IBM. Alan served as CEO and president of Versata, Zaplet, and NeoPath Networks, and as a managing director at Warburg Pincus LLC.

Senior Vice President and Corporate Treasurer, and Corporate Security of Cisco Systems Inc.

Roger holds over 20 years of experience driving financial management, strategy, organizational planning, and compliance across high-tech public and private companies. He has served as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Cisco Systems since April 2017, where his responsibilities include corporate finance, investments, cash management, foreign exchange, risk transfer, safety, security and business resiliency. He has served on the board of directors of Wasabi Technologies since August 2021, including as a member of the audit committee and governance committee, and has held senior financial markets positions in the areas of fixed income, equity capital markets and foreign exchange with the Royal Bank of Canada, Banque Paribas and Lehman Brothers.

Chief Human Resources Officer and Real Estate Leader of Cohesity

Amy is an accomplished senior human resources professional, business transformer and executive coach with expertise ranging from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Her management roles span high-tech (Symantec, Silver Spring Networks, Cisco, Sun Microsystems), entertainment (The Walt Disney Company), and consumer goods (Frito-Lay). Since May 2022 she has served as Chief Human Resources Officer and Real Estate Leader of Cohesity. From January 2014 to February 2020, Amy was the Chief Human Resources Officer and Real Estate Leader for Symantec. She also serves on the board of Softchoice, a provider of technology solutions and managed services; Betterworks, a continuous performance management platform company; and Pivotal, a non-profit that focuses on foster youth education and employment.

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of DPCM Capital, Inc.

Emil is one of Silicon Valley’s most highly regarded executives having built three successful companies including Tellme Networks (sold to Microsoft in 2007), Klout (sold to Lithium Technologies in 2014) and Uber. Emil has extensive experience identifying high-growth, tech-enabled businesses with his investments spanning a range of companies including Brex, GoPuff, Revolut, SpaceX and Stripe. He has been the Chairman and CEO of M8 Enterprises LLC since January 2018. Prior to that, he served as Chief Business Officer of Uber, Chief Operating Officer of Klout, and as a White House Fellow working for the Secretary of Defense. Emil also was part of the founding team of Tellme Networks, a pioneer in speech recognition technology and systems, helping the company raise over $250 million in venture capital and leading it through an $800 million sale to Microsoft.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees, MITRE

Michael is a leader and adviser on emerging technologies, geopolitics, and cybersecurity. He currently serves on the board of trustees of MITRE Corporation, which he joined in August 2016, and served as vice chairman from November 2018 until he was elected as its Chairman in November 2021. In April 2021, Michael joined the Board of Directors of D-Wave Government Inc., a subsidiary providing D-Wave quantum computing systems, software, services and expertise to the U.S. government. He also currently serves on the board of IronNet Cybersecurity, Elite Detection K9, Contstella Intelligence, IAP Worldwide Services and IP3 Corporation. Michael represented Michigan’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015. He also sat on the Energy and Commerce Committee and chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments)

Eduard oversees the organization’s total portfolio and establishes the long-term investment portfolio strategy. He also heads Responsible Investment, including oversight of ESG and government & sponsor relations. Eduard has served as CEO of the Dutch financial service provider APG Asset Management and as Deputy CIO of ING Investment Management. He began his career as an investment banker in London and Amsterdam. Eduard is a certified Financial Risk Manager and a Chartered Financial Analyst and has served on several investment advisory boards.