Career profile
Leslie Kershaw
Chief Information Security Officer, IonQ
- Current role, per sources checked 14 January 2026
- 14 January 2026
Leslie Kershaw is Chief Information Security Officer of IonQ, the quantum computing company, after advancing into the newly expanded corporate post from IonQ's Capella subsidiary in January 2026.
Career path
IonQ's announcement describes Kershaw as bringing nearly two decades of cyber leadership, including service as Cyber Technical Director for Space DELTA 6, U.S. Space Force, where she guided cyber architecture and operational readiness for teams across 13 globally dispersed locations. IonQ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Inder Singh said: "For more than 20 years, Leslie has served as a proven leader in cyber operations, from the military to industry."
The announcement does not say when Kershaw first joined IonQ Capella, what she did immediately before that posting, or where she was educated. It ties her career to a wider theme in the leadership shuffle: both she and the new CIO, Katie Arrington, are described as bringing backgrounds that span government service and private industry into IonQ's executive ranks at the same time.
Scope of the expanded role
In her new post, Kershaw assumes responsibility for achieving federal and commercial cybersecurity requirements, managing enterprise cyber and physical security, and ensuring security keeps pace with IonQ's rapid commercial expansion. Singh added that her ability to operationalize security at scale is meant to let customers and partners rely on IonQ's systems for missions that span the globe and beyond it.
The CISO post now reports to IonQ's newly appointed Chief Information Officer, Katie Arrington, who joined the company from a national-security technology background and oversees the protection and modernization of IonQ's global enterprise systems, digital assets and supply chains. IonQ is headquartered in College Park, Maryland, and describes itself as a quantum computing, networking, sensing and security company serving customers including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca and NVIDIA. The company says it has more than 1,300 employees, with operations in five U.S. states and in Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Toronto and the United Kingdom.