PsiQuantum has announced a surprise leadership restructure, switching co-founder and chief executive Jeremy O’Brien to an executive chair role as the quantum developer pursues a pivot from research to deployment.
Veteran tech executive Victor Peng will join the company as interim CEO, a move Mr O’Brien said would “add more firepower” to PsiQuantum’s leadership.
Mr Peng will exit an 18-month retirement to take on the interim role, having previously served as president of semiconductor giant AMD, and CEO of Xilinx.
PsiQuantum exploded into the Australian zeitgeist in early 2024 after the Queensland and Commonwealth governments announced they would together invest almost $1 billion to help the US-based firm develop an industry-scale quantum computer.
Backed by BlackRock and Nvidia, PsiQuantum soared to a $10.5 billion valuation in September, but it remains unclear whether the company will meet the planned 2027 delivery of its Brisbane facility.
Angus Taylor has been elected opposition leader, unseating Sussan Ley and Ted O’Brien in a spill motion on Friday morning that followed months of speculation about the Liberal Party’s leadership. Senator Jane Hume was elected party deputy.
Mr Taylor has previously served as minister across industry, energy, emission reductions, science, technology, law enforcement and cybersecurity portfolios, and as assistant minister for cities and digital transformation. Mr Taylor was shadow treasurer under Peter Dutton held the shadow defence portfolio under Ms Ley.
Senator Hume’s ministerial career covers the women’s economic security, superannuation, financial services and digital economy portfolios. Ms Hume was shadow minister for finance and the public service under Mr Dutton.
Biotech giant CSL this week faced a brutal market selldown following the announcement that CEO Paul McKenzie would abruptly depart.
Non-executive Gordon Naylor stepped into the CEO role on Wednesday morning, immediately tasked with unveiling the company’s half-yearly results on Thursday.
Australian health tech firm i-screen has appointed former Amazon Web Services and Accenture executive Brad Ryan as its new chief AI officer.
The diagnostics firm said Mr Ryan would spearhead efforts to embed AI into its existing screening programs and analytics capabilities.
The ASX has announced CEO Helen Lofthouse will step down in May, just months after the release of a scathing report by ASIC into its governance, strategy and culture.
The Exchange said it had engaged consultancy firm Korn Ferry to lead recruitment efforts for a successor, who will be charged with overseeing the first stage rollout of an updated ASX clearing system, CHESS.
The Australian Investment Council has elected Chester Moynihan as board chair, replacing Alicia Gregory, who departs the role after four years.
Mr Moynihan is a founding partner at private equity manager Allegro Funds, and first joined the board at the AIC in 2017.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will farewell one of its top tech executives Joanne Harper in May.
Ms Harper leaves after 13 years at the corporate watchdog, where she most recently served for two years as executive director for digital, data and technology.
Michael Powell has joined DroneShield as its new chief operating officer as the rising defence tech firm seeks to move into US and European markets.
Mr Powell exits defence prime Thales after six years to take on the role. Former DroneShield COO Nathan Vardanega will move to the chief delivery officer role.
Westpac chief information officer Scott Collary has announced he will retire pending the recruitment of a successor. Westpac CEO Anthony Miller paid tribute to Mr Collary as playing “a critical role in cyber security and scam prevention” at the lender.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has appointed Jonathan Dixon vice president and managing director Japan and Asia Pacific.
Mr Dixon has previously led JAPAC market efforts at AWS, Cloudflare and most recently Verkada.
Dr Bruce Warrington told a Senate Estimates hearing this week he will step down as chief executive of the National Measurement Institute.
Industry minister Tim Ayres paid tribute to the long-serving scientist, labelling his 21-year contribution at the NMI “immeasurable”.
Quantum science veteran professor Peter Turner has begun his tenure at Macquarie University’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
The university said Mr Turner will also carry on in his role as director of the Sydney Quantum Academy.
Curtin University has announced the members of its inaugural Commercialisation Advisory Panel.
The new entity will guide the WA university’s innovation ecosystem of researchers and founders. A full list of the panellists is available here.
Former Google cloud sales lead Jodi Pearson will join data centre operator NEXTDC as its AI alliance director.
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