Insider Brief
- Zapata Quantum has appointed William Klitgaard as Board Member and Audit Committee Chair and named Clark Golestani as Chairman as part of its post-restructuring governance build-out.
- The appointments follow Zapata’s completion of major restructuring steps, including raising $4M in new capital and resolving over 85% of its year-end 2024 unsecured liabilities.
- Klitgaard and Golestani will support Zapata’s push toward SEC compliance, operational scaling, and a planned relisting on a national securities exchange.
- Photo from Pixels by Pixabay
PRESS RELEASE — Zapata Quantum, Inc. (formerly Zapata Computing Holdings, Inc.), a pioneer in quantum computing application and algorithm development, today announced the appointment of William Klitgaard as a Board member and Chair of the Audit Committee, and Clark Golestani as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Golestani has been serving as a director since 2018.
These appointments follow the successful completion of the first two phases of the Company’s strategic restructuring efforts, which focused on strengthening the Company’s balance sheet and recapitalizing the business. Key milestones achieved include raising over $4 million in new capital from a cadre of highly strategic investors, restructuring $18.7 million or over 85% of its legacy unsecured liabilities at year-end 2024, and preserving the Company’s extensive IP portfolio and key strategic assets.
“With the heavy lifting of our recapitalization behind us, our focus is now on building out our core governance, technical and commercial capabilities as we set a clear path toward SEC compliance and relisting our common stock on a national securities exchange. The appointments of William and Clark strengthen the Company with precisely the kind of leadership we need at this juncture. Their depth of experience in financial stewardship and operational scaling will help ensure disciplined execution and position the Company for long-term growth as the quantum software market accelerates.”
— said Sumit Kapur, Chief Executive Officer of Zapata Quantum.
Klitgaard Brings Over Four Decades of Financial Leadership
William Klitgaard’s appointment enhances the Company’s financial governance and audit capabilities at a pivotal time. His deep experience will help guide Zapata through its remaining SEC compliance work, which the Company expects to complete in Q4 2025, an essential milestone on the path to uplisting on a national exchange, such as Nasdaq, where the Company was previously listed.
“Zapata’s leadership has done the hard work to unlock its next chapter, and the company is now primed to scale. Its position as the only pure-play, publicly traded quantum software company, backed by an exceptional portfolio of foundational patents, creates an unmatched strategic advantage. I’m excited to help accelerate what comes next.”
— said Klitgaard.
Klitgaard has served in senior executive and board roles across leading technology and healthcare organizations. He is currently a Board Member at XIFIN, Inc., and has previously held board positions at Syneos Health, Avista Public Acquisition Corp II, Inform Diagnostics, Certara, Bioclinica, and Liaison Technologies. He was President of Enlighten Health at LabCorp and spent over 18 years at Covance in several executive roles, including SVP CIO, SVP CFO, and Corporate VP Treasurer. He holds an MS in Management Studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Golestani Appointed Chairman of the Board
Clark Golestani, who has served on Zapata’s Board since 2018, brings over three decades of leadership and operational expertise in technology and innovation to his role as Chairman of the Board. As Chairman, he will support the Company’s initiatives to advance its operations and accelerate progress in quantum software, leveraging its existing IP portfolio.
Golestani is currently Managing Director at C Sensei Group LLC and has served as President and Global CIO at Merck, where he led major technology and digital initiatives. He has also held principal roles at Oracle and served on a range of corporate boards across the technology sector. Golestani holds a degree in Management Science from MIT Sloan School of Management.
“Zapata Quantum now has the clarity, the IP, and the momentum to drive needed progress in quantum software. As the quantum computing industry shifts from research to real-world value, Zapata’s hardware-agnostic software platform and its track record with both Fortune 500 enterprises and DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking program give it a uniquely strong position in quantum software. I’m fired up to help this team translate that technical edge into real-world impact in this next phase.”
— said Golestani.
