PsiQuantum has appointed foreign policy and national security leaders Stephen Biegun, Ellen Lord and Chris Miller to its government advisory board.
The company said Thursday the three new members will join Bob Sharp, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral, on the board and leverage their decades of experience to help PsiQuantum forge partnerships across the public sector.
Lord is a four-time Wash100 awardee, while Sharp is a two-time Wash100 Award recipient.
“Quantum computing will deliver transformational outcomes across the whole of society, and every part and level of government has an essential role to play,” said Jeremy O’Brien, co-founder and CEO of PsiQuantum. “We are grateful that such experienced and well-respected leaders share our commitment to deliver the world’s first utility-scale quantum computers in a manner that makes humanity safer, more secure, and more prosperous—and to do so in close collaboration with the public sector.”
Mark Brunner, executive vice president of public sector at PsiQuantum, welcomed the addition of Lord, Biegun and Miller to the government advisory board, which was formed in 2023.
“They bring a shared sense of conviction about the vital importance of fault-tolerant quantum computing for America’s tech leadership,” Brunner said in a LinkedIn post published Thursday.
Who Are the Members of the PsiQuantum Government Advisory Board?
Biegun is a former deputy secretary at the State Department. He has over 30 years of experience in international affairs. He previously served as a foreign policy specialist within Congress, executive secretary within the White House National Security Council and a senior vice president at Boeing. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Lord is a former under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment responsible for matters related to acquisition, contract administration, developmental testing and the defense industrial base, among others. She previously served as president and CEO of Textron Systems. She is a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab and serves on the boards of Parsons, AAR, Trident Solutions, SES and Exiger.
Miller is a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and author of the book “Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology.” The nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute also advises asset managers and businesses at consultancy Greenmantle. The Harvard University graduate earned his doctorate from Yale University.
Sharp is the former director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He served for over three decades as a naval intelligence officer. The CEO of B Sharp – Global Solutions brings to the advisory board decades of leadership experience in defense, intelligence and national security. The University of the Pacific graduate holds a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
What Does PsiQuantum Do?
Founded in 2016, PsiQuantum is focused on building and deploying fault-tolerant quantum computers. The Palo Alto, California-based company adopts a photonic approach that leverages semiconductor manufacturing and cryogenic infrastructure to rapidly scale its systems.
In September, Brunner announced that the company raised $1 billion in a Series E funding round to accelerate its quantum computer development efforts. Building on this milestone, the company also partnered with Lockheed Martin to advance quantum computing innovations for defense, aerospace and national security applications.
In early 2025, PsiQuantum secured an Air Force Research Laboratory contract to design and produce advanced quantum chips.
