Insider Brief
- Xanadu appointed Michael Trzupek as Chief Financial Officer and Natalie Wilmore as Chief Legal Officer to strengthen its executive leadership as it scales toward commercial quantum systems.
- Trzupek brings senior finance experience from Intel, Microsoft, Imagination Technologies, and Core Scientific, while Wilmore adds deep legal and governance expertise from high-growth public companies.
- The appointments follow Xanadu’s announced business combination with Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp., which is expected to provide up to approximately $500 million in gross proceeds.
PRESS RELEASE — Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. (“Xanadu”), a leading photonic quantum computing company, today announced the addition of two strategic leaders to their executive team: Michael Trzupek as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Natalie Wilmore as Chief Legal Officer (CLO). These executive appointments strengthen Xanadu’s leadership as the company executes on its mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.
“Michael and Natalie are outstanding additions to our leadership team,” said Xanadu Founder and CEO Christian Weedbrook. “As we continue towards our vision of building a quantum data center, their experience will strengthen our financial strategy and help ensure we grow with discipline and integrity.”
Michael Trzupek, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Trzupek is a seasoned financial and operating executive with a track record of scaling organizations, strengthening balance sheets, and leading complex capital markets functions across a variety of advanced manufacturing and semiconductor companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Imagination Technologies and Core Scientific. Over the course of his career, he has demonstrated the acumen and discipline needed to help fund and scale Xanadu’s push towards fault tolerant quantum computing.
Michael joins Xanadu from Imagination Technologies, a British semiconductor and software design company, where he led global finance and IT. Prior to that, Mr. Trzupek served as EVP and CFO at Core Scientific, a provider of blockchain infrastructure and digital asset mining services, where he assisted in taking the company public and raising significant capital. Prior to Core Scientific, he spent seven1 years at Microsoft and ten years at Intel in various finance leadership roles.
“Xanadu is building something special, and I’m excited to join at this pivotal moment,” said Michael Trzupek. “I look forward to partnering with the team to strengthen our financial foundation, support disciplined growth, and help accelerate the path to delivering quantum computers that are both useful and available.”
Natalie Wilmore, Chief Legal Officer
Natalie Wilmore is an experienced in-house attorney with expertise in scaling high-growth public companies. She joins Xanadu from Pagaya Technologies, an AI-powered fintech platform, where she served as VP, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, advising on a broad range of legal matters including corporate governance, securities laws, mergers and acquisitions, litigation matters, debt transactions, intellectual property and employment law.
A seasoned department builder, she specializes in establishing the scalable legal infrastructures, internal controls, and corporate secretarial processes required to sustain long-term growth as a public entity. She brings a sophisticated transactional pedigree, having led multi-billion2 dollar debt offerings and executed strategic M&A that drove significant enterprise value. Throughout her career, Natalie has been a key advisor on complex capital markets transactions and public market readiness for high-growth companies, including Skillz Inc., a mobile gaming platform, and Exela Technologies, a business process automation company, as well as established global enterprises like TelevisaUnivision, the leading Spanish-language media company and IBM, a multi-national technology company.
“I’m thrilled to join Xanadu at such an important point in its history,” said Natalie Wilmore. “I’m eager to work alongside the leadership team to support strong governance and thoughtful risk management, and to help the company scale responsibly as it advances its mission to deliver useful and available quantum computing.”
Business Combination
Xanadu recently announced a business combination agreement with Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The combined company, Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited is expected to be capitalized with approximately US$500 million in gross proceeds, comprising approximately US$225 million from Crane Harbor’s trust account, assuming no redemptions by Crane Harbor’s public stockholders, as well as US$275 million from a group of strategic and institutional investors participating in the transaction via a common equity committed private placement investment. NewCo is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
