IonQ added three executives to its federal go-to-market organization as it looks to deepen engagement with defense, intelligence and civilian agencies, according to a LinkedIn post from the company on Tuesday.
Who Is Steve Harris?
Steve Harris, named senior vice president of federal GTM and public sector, most recently served as Dynatrace’s general manager for public sector. Before joining Dynatrace, he became the president of Alteryx Public Sector and spent more than two decades at Dell Technologies, where he held various leadership roles, including president of Dell EMC Federal Systems and senior vice president and general manager of Dell Technologies Public Sector.
Harris is a six-time Wash100 Award recipient.
Who Is Cameron Chehreh?
Cameron Chehreh, a fellow Wash100 awardee, is a government-focused technology leader who has held public sector and federal go-to-market roles across the defense and civilian space. Before joining IonQ as vice president of federal field engineering, he served as vice president and general manager for worldwide public sector at Intel. His background also includes serving as vice president and chief technology officer for Dell Technologies Federal Systems and holding senior leadership roles at General Dynamics Information Technology.
Who Is Mike Lawson?
Mike Lawson, appointed as vice president of federal GTM, was previously a district sales director supporting the U.S. Air Force and combatant commands at Dell Technologies. His prior roles at Dell include leading sales engineering and defense accounts for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Lawson also served in the Air Force, including as chief of an infrastructure support branch at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.
How Does SHIELD Support IonQ’s Federal Strategy?
The appointments were announced after IonQ confirmed it secured a spot under the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, multiple-award IDIQ contract vehicle, which has a ceiling value of $151 billion and is designed to support rapid delivery of innovative capabilities.
IonQ said its SHIELD award places the company among more than 2,400 organizations eligible to compete for future task orders under the contract vehicle. The company positioned its federal work around a portfolio that spans multiple quantum technology areas and subsidiaries that bring established capabilities in space-based intelligence, secure communications and precision timing technologies, including Capella Space, Skyloom and Vector Atomic.
IonQ has been expanding its quantum capabilities through acquisitions. In late January, the company said it would acquire Seed Innovations to add machine learning, advanced software architecture and cloud migration expertise to its quantum infrastructure organization. IonQ also announced a definitive agreement to acquire semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $1.8 billion, describing the deal as a step toward forming a vertically integrated, full-stack quantum platform.
“Quantum computing is becoming a pillar of national security, and we are scaling our IonQ Federal GTM team to meet that challenge. We are proud to welcome Steve Harris, Cameron Chehreh, and Mike Lawson to our Federal leadership team. Their deep experience across Dell, Intel, and the U.S. Air Force will be vital as we bring quantum solutions to the public sector,” IonQ said.
