Xanadu Appoints Tara Deakin as Chief People Officer
News related to:Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited · 2 min read
TORONTO, Sept. 22, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited, a leading photonic quantum computing company, has announced the appointment of Tara Deakin as Chief People Officer, effective immediately. This strategic move is part of the company's plan to scale and advance its mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.
Dr. Christian Weedbrook, Founder and CEO of Xanadu, expressed his enthusiasm for Deakin's addition to the leadership team.
Prior to joining Xanadu, Deakin served as Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President at Spin Master, where she was responsible for global people strategy, corporate communications, real estate, and workplace experience. During her tenure, she guided the organization through periods of global expansion, organic growth, and acquisition, building on the strengths that drove its success while evolving its leadership, organization, and ways of working for its next stage.
Rebecca Laramée, the current Chief People Officer, will continue with the company as Senior Vice President of Human Resources. She will partner with Deakin to lead Xanadu's high-growth workforce initiatives.
Deakin's appointment comes at a critical point in Xanadu's evolution. The company is building fault-tolerant quantum computers using light, with systems designed to compute at room temperature. Xanadu develops both hardware and software, including PennyLane, its open-source quantum computing platform. Founded in 2016, Xanadu is recognized globally for its breakthroughs in scalable quantum technologies.
In related news, Dr. Weedbrook, an executive officer and member of the board of directors of Xanadu, disposed of an aggregate of 4,600,000 Class B Subordinate Voting Shares of Xanadu through sales on the Toronto Stock Exchange and other published markets on September 22, 2026. Prior to the sale, Dr. Weedbrook held 46,432,704 Class A Multiple Voting Shares and 8,906 Class B Subordinate Voting Shares, representing approximately 19.5% of total issued and outstanding Class A Multiple Voting Shares, less than 1% of total issued and outstanding Class B Subordinate Voting Shares, approximately 15.24% of the total issued and outstanding Company Shares, and approximately 18.97% of total voting power attached to the Company Shares.
Following the sale, Dr. Weedbrook held 41,832,704 Class A Multiple Voting Shares and 18,593 Class B Subordinate Voting Shares, representing approximately 27.6% of total issued and outstanding Class A Multiple Voting Shares, less than 1% of total issued and outstanding Class B Subordinate Voting Shares, approximately 13.71% of the total issued and outstanding Company Shares, and approximately 25.06% of total voting power attached to the Company Shares. If all of the Class A Multiple Voting Shares held by Dr. Weedbrook were converted into Class B Subordinate Voting Shares in accordance with their terms, he would hold 41,851,297 Class B Subordinate Voting Shares, representing approximately 21.70% of Class B Subordinate Voting Shares then issued and outstanding and approximately 3.18% of total voting power attached to the Company Shares.
A total of 4,041,659 shares were sold in Canada at prices ranging from C$7.00 to C$9.25, and a total of 558,341 shares were sold in the U.S. at prices ranging from US$5.01 to US$7.27 (C$7.024521 to C$10.193267 based on the USD:CAD Bank of Canada exchange rate on September 21, 2026). Aggregate gross proceeds of approximately C$32,831,120.00 were generated from these sales. Dr. Weedbrook sold the shares for personal financial planning purposes.