Zapata Computing Adds Strategic Business & Finance Leader Charles Kane to Board of Directors
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Zapata Computing, a leading enterprise software company for quantum solutions, today announced that Charles Kane will join Zapata’s Board of Directors and chair the board’s audit committee. As a former CFO at multiple companies and senior lecturer in global economics and management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Kane brings vast experience in developing and executing sophisticated financial strategies for various corporations.
“We are thrilled to welcome Chuck to our board and learn from his unique blend of knowledge in finance and business strategies,” said Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata Computing. “Exemplified by his work at MIT Sloan, Chuck is a teacher at heart. We look forward to his mentorship. In particular, Chuck’s experience as CFO of RSA Security will be valuable as we expand our Post-Quantum Cryptography offering on our Orquestra® platform.”
Throughout his career, Kane has been the audit chairman for various software companies and is currently a frequent speaker and writer. He covers a wide range of topics including finance and business for globalizing corporations and mergers and acquisitions, international finance, and social entrepreneurial ventures. As a result, Kane’s breadth and depth of experience will be extremely helpful in setting Zapata up for success. “The quantum computing landscape is highly dynamic and Zapata has its finger on the pulse of the market landscape, customers’ needs, and new technological developments,” said Kane. “I’m excited to work alongside a team committed to creating new value with quantum technology.”
Kane has previously held notable positions, including the CFO at RSA Security (acquired by EMC), Aspen Technology, and Informix Software (acquired by IBM) and the president and CEO of Corechange, Inc. (acquired by Open Text Corp.). Kane additionally served in financial executive positions at Stratus Computer, Prime Computer, and Deloitte. He is currently chairman of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides technology to enhance education in developing countries, and lecturer at MIT Sloan. Prior to OLPC, Kane was a founding investor and CFO at Global BPO Services Corp.
“I am delighted that Chuck is joining the Zapata Computing Board of Directors,” said Zapata Board Member Rhonda Germany Ballintyn. “Chuck is a CPA, has been CFO of private and public companies, has chaired a number of audit committees, and will contribute decades of excellent accounting, finance and business experience.”
Fellow Zapata Computing Board Member Dana Jones added, “Chuck has proven track record as an Audit Chair for global enterprise software companies, as well as financing startups through various stages of growth, and we will all benefit from his guidance. We are excited about what he brings to the board and look forward to his contributions.”
About Zapata Computing
Zapata Computing, Inc. builds quantum-ready applications® for enterprise on Orquestra®, the computational workflow platform for quantum computing. Orquestra integrates best-in-class classical and quantum technology, including Zapata’s leading-edge algorithms, open-source libraries in Python, and more. Zapata has pioneered new quantum-classical methods in ML, optimization and simulation to maximize value from near-term quantum devices, and partners closely with hardware providers across the quantum ecosystem such as Amazon, D-Wave, Google, Quantinuum, IBM, IonQ and Rigetti. Learn more at ZapataComputing.com.