2023 Quantum Technologies Forum
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2023 Quantum Technologies Forum

April 5th, 2023 9:00am-11:00am EST   Virtual, ON24

The world is on the cusp of the second quantum revolution as scientists and quantum leaders inch closer toward fully developed quantum capabilities. This second generation of quantum could have enormous impact in multiple areas including warfare, supply chain optimization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity and much more.

Quantum technology research and development efforts for defense and national security uses have been accelerating across the public sector in recent years. Government, industry and academia are now working together to unlock cutting-edge quantum advancements as global competition intensifies. 

The ExecutiveBiz Quantum Technologies Forum brings together quantum thought leaders, government officials and industry voices in dynamic conversation focused on where we stand now, what lies ahead for quantum, and how we can harness quantum capabilities to achieve dominance on the global stage.

  • Adam Black
    Dr. Adam Black -
    Section Head, Quantum Optics, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

    Dr. Adam T. Black is head of the Quantum Optics Section in the Optical Sciences Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where his research focuses on improved architectures for cold-atom quantum sensing and quantum networking. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University and was a visiting scholar at the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms before completing a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2007. He developed quantum sensors for nine years in an industry R&D position and joined NRL in 2016. In 2021, Dr. Black won the Dolores Etter Award for Top Navy Scientist (Individual).

  • Lloyd Dabbs
    Lloyd Dabbs -
    Director of Public Sector Business Development, SandboxAQ

    Lloyd Dabbs is the Director of Public Sector Business Development for SandboxAQ. He partners closely with leading technology experts, engineers, and scientists to educate federal partners on the criticality of American dominance in quantum technology. Lloyd champions novel solutions to optimize the integration of quantum sensors, security, and simulation for the Federal marketplace. Prior to his position at SandboxAQ, Lloyd was a Senior Capture and Growth Manager for Riverside Research Institute’s Intelligence Directorate. Previously, he was also a Senior Business Development Manager for Modus Operandi, Inc., with a customer-driven approach to the rapid delivery of critical data analytic software to warfighting units. Lloyd is a veteran intelligence officer and expert in advanced surveillance technologies and led Department of Defense innovation projects for over 24-years.

  • Cameron Holt
    Maj Gen (Ret.) Cameron Holt -
    President & Founder, Holt Consulting Group LLC

    Cameron Holt is President and Founder of Holt Consulting Group LLC. The focus of his work is to bring together the best of America—industrialists, technologists and capital investors with innovative problem solvers in Government to tilt the scales in favor of America and her allies against the adversaries of freedom. Cameron recently completed 32 years of military service including his last four years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Contracting) for the Air Force and Space Force. In that capacity, he oversaw a global contracting portfolio valued in excess of $825 Billion and 8,000+ Contracting “Ninjas”, executing the full range of operational, enterprise sourcing, and major weapons systems contracting worldwide. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Contract Management Association and as a member of the PPBE Reform Task Force sponsored by the American Society of Military Comptrollers. As a patriot, a husband and a father of four great kids, he remains committed to leverage his extensive leadership, contracting, acquisition, requirements, and national security experience to “hack” our unnecessarily complex and antiquated Cold War-era national security resourcing and acquisition system, accelerate/optimize US combat capabilities, and make the Chinese Communist Party nervous.

  • Chester Kennedy
    Chester Kennedy -
    Executive Advisor, Infleqtion

    Selected by Florida Trend as one of the Florida 500 most influential business leaders for several years in a row, Chester Kennedy exercises his passion for technology and his love for the Central Florida region through independent strategic consulting engagements. Kennedy was also named by Orlando Magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in the region and a “Game Changer” by the Orlando Business Journal. Kennedy is dedicated to helping organizations understand the opportunities and possible disruptive threats that the accelerating pace of technology evolution present to a variety of traditional industries. Recently, Kennedy served as the Chief Executive Officer of BRIDG from 2015 to 2020, where he expanded upon his 35 years of aerospace and commercial electronics industries experience to successfully lead the organization through the complex phases of building a microelectronics fabrication facility. Kennedy continued to lead BRIDG through the establishment of a robust customer base; a combination consisting of Federal and industry contracts which are key to transitioning industry into the new era driven by cyber-secure innovation and the Internet of Things. Before founding his consulting company and launching BRIDG, Kennedy spent 30 years at Lockheed Martin and its heritage organizations. During his tenure at Lockheed Martin, Kennedy worked every phase of the program life cycle – from concept development though capture, development and production. His experience spans from basic engineering roles to numerous management positions within engineering, business development, and program management. He spent several years working a strategic assignment on the corporate staff. He is a graduate of many executive development programs and spent the last 12 years of his Lockheed Martin career serving at the Vice President level in four different organizational combinations within the corporation; most recently as Vice President and Chief Engineer of Training and Logistics Solutions at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. In addition to his passion for the region and the transformative power of technology to improve lives, Kennedy is a huge advocate for STEM-based education. His commitment is proven through his engagement on numerous boards and his sincere desire to create opportunities for others. Kennedy holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology. In his spare time, Kennedy loves spending time both on the water and in the air. He is a dedicated general aviation pilot and a lifelong student of the intersections of technology, business growth, and economic impact.

  • Jay Lowell
    Jay Lowell -
    Chief Engineer and Principal Senior Technical Fellow, Disruptive Computing & Networks, The Boeing Company

    Jay Lowell is a Principal Senior Technical Fellow at Boeing and Chief Engineer for Boeing Disruptive Computing & Networks (DC&N). DC&N is developing emerging computational and networking technologies such as those in quantum communications, sensing, and computing for advanced commercial and government aerospace applications. Jay’s technical background has included work on remote sensing, precision measurements of time and frequency, inertial measurements, laser/matter interactions, photonics, optical signal processing, medical diagnostics, and software development. He previously served on the Steering Committee of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, was a program manager at DARPA, an assistant professor of Physics at the U. S. Air Force Academy, and has served on several government technical advisory committees. He is a distinguished graduate with honors from the U. S. Air Force Academy and holds a Ph. D. in atomic physics from the University of Virginia.

  • Sha-Chelle Manning
    Sha-Chelle Manning -
    Chief of Commercial Strategy, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)

    Manning currently serves as the Chief of Commercial Strategy for DARPA, DOD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency with a +$4B annual budget for technology investments with leading researchers for national and economic security. Manning is a co-founder of 1920 Group, a women-led investment, transaction, and growth firm for social impact; and co-founder of Lithos, a critical material extraction company. Prior, Manning was an executive for two leading US public energy companies, Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) and Cimarex NYSE: CTRA), that advanced the US as a “global energy powerhouse.” Manning was co-founder of investment firm Malibu IQ, which had an IPO on GAN microelectronics (NASDAQ: NVTS). Manning was Managing Director of Nanoholdings, a clean-tech venture fund backed by Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB); and Texas Governor Rick Perry’s $483M Emerging Tech Fund. Manning started her career as an entrepreneur in several successful nanotechnology startups, including Zyvex and Authentix (acquired by the Carlyle Group), as well as Winstar, a wireless broadband service and media streaming, started in New York, which was based on DOD backhaul 38 GhZ technology. Manning was voted as one of the “Top 25 Women in Technology” in Texas. Manning has served on several boards and non-profits such as Astrotech Corporation (NASDAQ: ASTC), a satellite space processing and International Space Station services company (division acquired by Lockheed Corporation NYSE: LMT); the US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary’s Advisory Board for Innovation (SEAB); DOE’s + $240M Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation; Worlds.IO, an AI startup backed by Chevron and Piva (Petronas); the University of Oklahoma System Strategic Research Board; the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Board and Tech Titans Executive Board.

  • Dawn Meyerriecks
    Dawn Meyerriecks -
    Former Deputy Director for Science & Technology, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

    Dawn Meyerriecks is a leading voice at the intersection of science, technology, and government, with more than 40 years in government and industry service. Most recently, as the deputy director of the CIA for science and technology, Meyerriecks led a multidisciplinary team to deliver intelligence critical to achieving national security objectives. Meyerriecks has described the work as STEAM—science, technology, engineering, art, and math—because it converges hardware, software, and soft arts like architecture and even make-up arts, that enable intelligence agents to operate clandestinely. She previously served as assistant director of national intelligence for acquisition, technology and facilities, overseeing activities related to science and technical domains. Meyerriecks is a recognized expert in delivering entrepreneurial technical capabilities and process to international markets, leveraging unparalleled stakeholder acumen into strategy, development, integration, and operations. As senior vice president for product technologies at America Online, she led innovation, product development, certification, and launch of consumer-facing products and services. She also served as chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), managing a $5 billion budget and a military and civilian staff of 8,200. In that role, Meyerriecks established DISA’s technical strategy, revamping and modernizing the Global Command and Control System between Desert Storm phases I and II. In addition, Meyerriecks served as a program manager, building and delivering communications subsystems for the Army and Air Force standard tactical intelligence systems, through NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Meyerriecks has twice earned the Presidential Rank Award—in 2015 during her CIA tenure, and in 2004 when she was at DISA.  Washingtonian magazine recognized Meyerriecks as a Tech Titan in 2019. Fortune named her among its Top 100 Intellectuals in 2011. Meyerriecks holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and a master’s degree in computer science from Loyola Marymount University.

  • Charles Wessner
    Dr. Charles Wessner -
    Senior Adviser (Non-Resident), Renewing American Innovation Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

    Charles Wessner is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches global innovation policy while also serving as a senior adviser (non-resident) to the CSIS Renewing American Innovation Program. He is active as a speaker, researcher, and writer with a global lens on innovation policy and has frequently advised technology agencies, universities, and governments on effective innovation policies. He served for two decades as a National Academies scholar, where he founded and directed the National Academy of Sciences' Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program. At the National Academies, Dr. Wessner’s research addressed the importance of semiconductor research and production to innovation and national security. In collaboration with Gordon Moore and Bill Spencer, his influential reports included Securing the Future: Regional and National Programs to Support the Semiconductor Industry and Innovative Flanders: Innovation Policies for the 21st Century, which reviewed the role of IMEC, the cooperative research center. His most recent publication with Thomas Howell, Regional Renaissance: How New York’s Capital Region Became a Nanotechnology Powerhouse (Springer, 2020), documents how state investments in universities, new institutions, and infrastructure created a vibrant semiconductor cluster creating thousands of jobs and regional growth. He is also a leading U.S. expert on Sematech, the U.S. semiconductor consortium, and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which provides awards to promising small businesses and start-ups. Reflecting his commitment to transatlantic cooperation, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the president of France.

  • 9:00am - 9:05am EST

    Welcome & Opening Remarks

  • 9:05am - 9:45am EST

    Keynote Address: Sha-Chelle Manning

  • 9:45am - 10:55am EST

    Panel: The Quantum Scale-up Challenge

  • 10:55am - 11:00am EST

    Closing Comments

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