Executive record
Leslie Kershaw
Career profile: Leslie Kershaw on CISO Spotlights ↗
Leslie Kershaw is Chief Information Security Officer at IonQ. The appointment was announced on January 14, 2026, per IonQ.
Before the appointment: a security leadership role at IonQ Capella, per the same source.
1 tracked move on the Wire · Updated
Career timeline
Every move the record holds for Leslie Kershaw, newest first, with the earlier roles the announcements name.
· Appointment
Named Chief Information Security Officer at IonQ
Source: IonQ (company announcement) ↗ · Move record
Before January 2026· Earlier role
Security leadership role at IonQ Capella
Named in the announcement of the IonQ appointment · Source: IonQ (company announcement) ↗
The appointment
Announced January 14, 2026 · Source: IonQ (company announcement) ↗ · Move record
IonQ announced that Leslie Kershaw, previously with its IonQ Capella unit, will advance into a newly expanded role as Chief Information Security Officer, reporting to incoming Chief Information Officer Katie Arrington. The appointment was announced alongside Arrington's hire from the Department of War.
A quantum-computing company elevating security to a corporate CISO post reporting to a former Pentagon technology official signals how closely IonQ is tying its security posture to government and defense business.
According to the company, Kershaw is responsible for meeting commercial and federal cybersecurity requirements and for managing enterprise physical and cyber security. IonQ says her remit also includes ensuring that security keeps pace as the company expands commercially.
IonQ says Kershaw has nearly two decades of cyber leadership, and that she served the U.S. Space Force as Cyber Technical Director for Space DELTA 6. In the Space DELTA 6 role, according to the company, she guided operational readiness and cyber architecture for teams in 13 globally dispersed locations.
IonQ describes itself as a quantum platform company delivering solutions for networking, sensing, security and quantum computing. IonQ says it is headquartered in College Park, Maryland, and has more than 1,300 employees, with operations in places including Tennessee, California, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and South Korea. According to the company, its customers and partners include NVIDIA, AstraZeneca and Amazon Web Services. The company says it achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity in 2025.
The company: IonQ
- Sector
- Technology
- Region
- North America
- Company record
- Who runs security at IonQ: 1 confirmed move on the record
- Annual report
- Cybersecurity section of the fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2026
- Reporting line
- The filing describes the role that runs security as Chief Information Security Officer, reporting to the Chief Information Officer.
- Board oversight
- Named in the filing: Audit Committee.
Appointed in the same period
Other security chiefs in Technology whose appointment was announced within 90 days of Leslie Kershaw's, nearest first (8 of 12). The Technology bench
Eric Zielinski, Chief Information Security Officer at Jumpmind
Ken Ricketts, Chief Information Security Officer at Teradata
Jayesh Bhatt, Chief Information Security Officer at Netcore
Iain Mulholland, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Salesforce
Latha Maripuri, Chief Information Security Officer at Nscale
Peter Liebert, Chief Information Security Officer at Clari + Salesloft
Ed Moyle, Chief Information Security Officer at Future in Tech
Kathy Wang, Chief Information Security Officer at micro1
Record facts
- Time in the seat
- 10 months since the appointment was announced (January 14, 2026), as of November 2026
- Moves on the record
- 1 confirmed move, each with its source
- On the record since
- September 25, 2026
How these are counted. Time in the seat: Counted in whole months from the announcement of the appointment, the date the record holds; announcements rarely give a start date.
Questions about Leslie Kershaw
- Who is the CISO of IonQ?
- Leslie Kershaw is Chief Information Security Officer at IonQ. The appointment was announced on January 14, 2026, per IonQ.
- When did Leslie Kershaw become CISO of IonQ?
- The appointment was announced on January 14, 2026, per IonQ. The record holds the announcement, not a start date.
- Where did Leslie Kershaw work before IonQ?
- Before the appointment, Leslie Kershaw was in a security leadership role at IonQ Capella, according to the announcement (IonQ).
- Who does the head of security at IonQ report to?
- In its fiscal 2025 annual report (Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2026), IonQ describes the role that runs security as Chief Information Security Officer, reporting to the Chief Information Officer.
Sources
- 1.IonQ (company announcement) ↗: the appointment at IonQ, January 14, 2026
- 2.SEC EDGAR: Form 10-K, fiscal 2025 ↗: the company's cybersecurity disclosure
- 3.CISO Spotlights career profile ↗: a fuller career profile on a sister site
This record begins with CISO Tribune's tracking in 2026.
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