Zapata Computing, a leading enterprise software company for quantum
solutions, today announced the appointment of marketing veteran Rhonda
Germany Ballintyn as a board member of the company. Most recently,
Germany Ballintyn was the corporate vice president, chief strategy and
marketing officer at Honeywell International until her retirement in
2017.
Zapata is developing a powerful software platform and quantum algorithms
to enable the next generation of discoveries — for a wide range of
industries including chemistry, pharmaceuticals, logistics, finance and
materials — on quantum computers.
“In just over a year since its founding, Zapata has rapidly become an
established player in quantum computing: generating incredible customer
demand from Fortune 100 and Global 1000 companies, establishing
collaborations with multinational business giants, and raising one of
the largest software finance rounds in quantum computing,” said Rhonda
Germany Ballintyn. “As Zapata continues introducing quantum computing to
industries worldwide, I look forward to helping accelerate Zapata’s
expansion plans through my decades of experience in developing and
driving worldwide growth strategies.”
“We are delighted that Rhonda is joining Zapata’s board,” said
Christopher Savoie, CEO and cofounder of Zapata Computing. “Rhonda has
deep expertise building from the ground up and leading the
implementation of growth strategies across key industries and markets
that quantum computing is poised to transform. A global and established
leader, Rhonda will be pivotal to Zapata’s next phase of growth as we
accelerate our expansion plans into new markets and regions.”
“Rhonda brings over 35 years of experience in strategy, management and
marketing across a wide range of industry sectors both in established as
well as emerging and global markets,” added Gary Gauba, founder and
managing director of The CXO Fund. “She is an invaluable addition to the
board.” The CXO Fund is focused on investing in emerging startups in the
deep tech, fintech and health tech verticals and curating companies by
working closely with some of the top universities in the US. The CXO
Fund investor base (80+), comprised of current and former senior
executives of Fortune 500 companies, participated in Zapata’s Series A
investment round.
In addition to serving on the Zapata board of directors, Germany
Ballintyn is a board member of Hypertherm, a private manufacturer of
industrial cutting solutions, as well as three public companies: Aegion,
a $1.3 billion global water, gas and oil pipeline infrastructure
provider; Integra Lifesciences, a $1.5 billion global life sciences
manufacturer; and Univar, a $8 billion global distributor of chemistry
and related products and services.
At Honeywell, Germany Ballintyn was responsible for developing and
driving Honeywell’s growth strategies worldwide and leading the
company’s annual strategic planning process. Prior to Honeywell, Germany
Ballintyn was with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where she served as vice
president, partner, board member and member of the board’s personnel
committee. At Honeywell, Germany Ballintyn was an integral part of the
M&A team, involved with nearly 100 acquisitions, and during her time at
Booz Allen & Hamilton, she led the integration of many major
acquisitions.
Germany Ballintyn’s appointment comes on the heels of other significant
developments for Zapata. In April 2019, Zapata raised $21 million in
Series A financing from world-class investors including Comcast
Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Pitango Ventures, BASF Venture Capital,
Robert Bosch Venture Capital, The CXO Fund, Pillar VC, and The Engine.
Zapata is developing powerful, hardware-agnostic solutions on the latest
quantum hardware made by Google, IBM, Rigetti, Honeywell, IonQ and
others. Zapata holds an exclusive license to a portfolio of quantum
algorithms from Harvard University.
ABOUT ZAPATA COMPUTING
Founded in 2017 and based on technology developed at Harvard University,
Zapata Computing is building the leading enterprise software company for
quantum solutions to enable the next generation of accessible,
commercial high-performance computing. Co-founded by Alán Aspuru-Guzik,
a world leader in quantum simulation for chemistry and materials,
Zapata’s founding team includes Christopher Savoie, Yudong Cao, Jonathan
Olson, Peter Johnson, and Jhonathan Romero. www.zapatacomputing.com
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