D-Wave CEO and leadership

Dr. Alan Baratz became the CEO of D-Wave in 2020. Previously, as executive vice president, 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, Baratz 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. He served as CEO and president of Versata, Zaplet, and NeoPath Networks, and as a managing director at Warburg Pincus LLC. Baratz holds a doctorate in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Eric Ladizinsky is a senior scientific management executive with strong background in physics, engineering, materials, and manufacturing. He brings specific expertise in multi-disciplinary R&D, technical team building, creation and management of infrastructure, and convergence of R&D efforts with full-scale manufacturing. At Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW, Inc.), he ran a multi-million dollar DARPA program in Quantum Computing using superconducting integrated circuit technology. Mr. Ladizinsky leads D-Wave's technical effort to develop the superconducting integrated circuit fabrication process and has introduced industrial optimization practices for high yields, including construction of custom vacuum systems, automated testing infrastructure, and specialized low noise electronics. From our US foundry location, he runs the entire fabrication process - thin film deposition, photolithography, etching, testing and troubleshooting. Mr. Ladizinsky is also an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Loyola Marymount University, where he has taught courses including classical mechanics, electromagnetic theory and quantum theory. He worked with faculty and students to bring the quantum mechanics program current with state-of-the-art in quantum theory, covering quantum computing, decoherence theory and modern experimental techniques. Mr. Ladizinsky has a BSc. Physics and Mathematics degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has 3 granted US patents covering advanced superconducting IC processes and new materials development.

Geordie Rose is a founder and CTO of D-Wave. He is known as a leading advocate for quantum computing and physics-based processor design, and has been invited to speak on these topics in venues ranging from the 2003 TED Conference to Supercomputing 2008. His innovative and ambitious approach to building quantum computing technology has received coverage in MIT Technology Review magazine, The Economist, New Scientist, Scientific American and Science magazines, and one of his business strategies was profiled in a Harvard Business School case study. He has received several awards and accolades for his work with D-Wave, including being short-listed for a 2005 World Technology Award. Dr. Rose holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia, specializing in quantum effects in materials. While at McMaster University, he graduated first in his class with a BEng in Engineering Physics, specializing in semiconductor engineering.

Vern Brownell joins D-Wave from Egenera, where he held various executive roles including CEO. Egenera is a global leader in delivering computing solutions that simplify datacenter infrastructure and operations. Over 350 enterprises around the world trust the Egenera BladeFrame hardware and PAN Manager software to run their most important business applications and achieve higher resource utilization, faster application time to market and lower total cost of ownership. Egenera was founded by Mr. Brownell in 2000 based on his experiences as the Chief Technology Officer at Goldman Sachs, where he and his staff of 1,300 were responsible for worldwide technology infrastructure including computing platforms, datacenters, data networking, telecommunications and trading-floor operations. Prior to his tenure at Goldman, Brownell served in various management and engineering roles at Stratus Computer, Ztel and Digital Equipment. He holds an MBA degree from Anna Maria College and a BEng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Eric Ladizinsky is a senior scientific management executive with strong background in physics, engineering, materials, and manufacturing. He brings specific expertise in multi-disciplinary R&D, technical team building, creation and management of infrastructure, and convergence of R&D efforts with full-scale manufacturing. At Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW, Inc.), he ran a multi-million dollar DARPA program in Quantum Computing using superconducting integrated circuit technology. Mr. Ladizinsky leads D-Wave's technical effort to develop the superconducting integrated circuit fabrication process and has introduced industrial optimization practices for high yields, including construction of custom vacuum systems, automated testing infrastructure, and specialized low noise electronics. From our US foundry location, he runs the entire fabrication process - thin film deposition, photolithography, etching, testing and troubleshooting. Mr. Ladizinsky is also an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Loyola Marymount University, where he has taught courses including classical mechanics, electromagnetic theory and quantum theory. He worked with faculty and students to bring the quantum mechanics program current with state-of-the-art in quantum theory, covering quantum computing, decoherence theory and modern experimental techniques. Mr. Ladizinsky has a BSc. Physics and Mathematics degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has 3 granted US patents covering advanced superconducting IC processes and new materials development.

Geordie Rose is a founder and CTO of D-Wave. He is known as a leading advocate for quantum computing and physics-based processor design, and has been invited to speak on these topics in venues ranging from the 2003 TED Conference to Supercomputing 2008. His innovative and ambitious approach to building quantum computing technology has received coverage in MIT Technology Review magazine, The Economist, New Scientist, Scientific American and Science magazines, and one of his business strategies was profiled in a Harvard Business School case study. He has received several awards and accolades for his work with D-Wave, including being short-listed for a 2005 World Technology Award. Dr. Rose holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia, specializing in quantum effects in materials. While at McMaster University, he graduated first in his class with a BEng in Engineering Physics, specializing in semiconductor engineering.

Vern Brownell joins D-Wave from Egenera, where he held various executive roles including CEO. Egenera is a global leader in delivering computing solutions that simplify datacenter infrastructure and operations. Over 350 enterprises around the world trust the Egenera BladeFrame hardware and PAN Manager software to run their most important business applications and achieve higher resource utilization, faster application time to market and lower total cost of ownership. Egenera was founded by Mr. Brownell in 2000 based on his experiences as the Chief Technology Officer at Goldman Sachs, where he and his staff of 1,300 were responsible for worldwide technology infrastructure including computing platforms, datacenters, data networking, telecommunications and trading-floor operations. Prior to his tenure at Goldman, Brownell served in various management and engineering roles at Stratus Computer, Ztel and Digital Equipment. He holds an MBA degree from Anna Maria College and a BEng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.