On Monday 4/20, my time at IonQ came to an end.

It all started in January 2021, when IonQ was looking for someone to help them think about security. I plugged them in to Jemurai and securityprogram.io and we got started. It’s amazing to look back at all that we accomplished. IonQ went public. Hired VP’s of engineering and software. We obtained SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Security improved consistently.

Back when we started, it was like a ragtag bunch of volunteers who built servers, wrote code for quantum, threw networks together and also deeply cared about security. Even then, there was the seed of excellence in the group.

Perhaps the thing I am the most proud of is the team and culture that I was able to build around that seed. With the support of key leaders, we built an extended security team that IT, Network, Cloud, Legal, and others wanted to be part of. People volunteered information and asked questions because we all cared. Pretty soon it felt like security was a real thing and we were doing it right.

In 2024, I joined full time and sold the company I had started to do that. I was so excited by the people, the challenges, the technology …

IonQ was such a technically interesting company to work for. Physicists pair programming with software engineers. Tinkerers. Scientists. Theoreticians. Pragmatists. I believe IonQ will be at the front of the race to change the face of computing around quantum. Some funny memories come to mind around working through physicists detailed feedback about our security policies.

I’m also incredibly proud of the team I built there. Covering supply chain, GRC, security engineering, insider threat and more - our team was happy to collaborate across the organization and demonstrated excellence of knowledge, process and engagement throughout. A huge thank you to the team. You are experts in your own right and IonQ is lucky to have you.

I also appreciated collaboration with IT, Cloud Software, Product Management, Operators, Legal, People, Sales, and more. Many many people helped me along the way at IonQ and I just want to say “Thank you”. It has been an unforgettable positive journey. I learned so much. I cared so much for you all. I still care.

Of course, things change. We started to hire even more seasoned executives, merge with companies and deliver much much more complicated solutions to much more demanding partners - and the systems change, the people change and the values change. I think this is necessary and good. Even though I think I’m an expert and it was crazy to let me go, I also recognize that the company needs something different now than it needed before. My role needed to change in some way. Perhaps this is the best.

I wish everyone the very best. Good luck IonQ’ers - including all of the folks from acquisitions!!!

As for me, I am polishing up a book I started 5 years ago, writing subversive software for fun, trying to get back into reasonable shape without hurting myself and giving myself some time to decide what I want to do next.

Thanks for your support.

For those reading this that want to know about IonQ - all I can say is go find out more. It is an amazing company doing things you wouldn’t believe (and I probably can’t correctly explain).