SQC appoints ex-ARM chief as chair, fills govt board vacancy

Silicon Quantum Computing has appointed Simon Segars, the former chief executive of British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings, as the new chair of its board.

Mr Segars joins the board at the same time as Fiona Pak-Poy, who has been selected as the federal government’s first representative on the board of the Sydney-based quantum computing company.

The Commonwealth is a significant investor in Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC), meaning it is entitled to appoint one director, although the position has been vacant since 2021.

Ms Pak-Poy, who is also the chair of Tyro Payments, is the first SQC board appointment made by the federal government that is external to a department.

Simon Segars

SQC founder and chief executive Michelle Simmons said she is “absolutely thrilled” by the two appointments and took the opportunity to thank outgoing inaugural chair Stephen Menzies.

“Stephen has been involved since the conception of SQC and for the last seven years has been a very effective executive chair, overseeing the negotiation and execution of key elements of our growth to date,” Professor Simmons said.

“We will miss his intellect and insights. He is a staunch supporter of the company, and we wish him all the best.”

Mr Segars was chief executive of Arm Holdings between 2013 and 2022, but he started at the company in 1991 as its 16^th employee. During Mr Segars’ leadership of the firm, it was acquired by Japanese investment fund SoftBank Group for £24.3 million (AU$44 million).

Following the acquisition, Mr Segars sat on the board of SoftBank between 2017 and 2021. He was also on the board of the Global Semiconductor Alliance between 2014 and 2022.

Since leaving Arm, Mr Segars has been working across several other boards and advisory roles and is currently on the board of Dolby Laboratories, Vodafone, and machine learning firm Edge Impulse. He is also currently an advisor to investment firm Permira and executive advisory to Black Opal Ventures.

Mr Segars said he is “excited to join SQC at this moment in its history” and that he looks forward to working with Professor Simmons and the rest of the team “to build a world-leading company around their world-leading technology”.

Ms Pak-Poy is also an experienced board director, having worked in the tech, healthcare and financial services sectors. She was also appointed to the board of WiseTech Global earlier this month.

Before joining WiseTech, Ms Pak-Poy spent almost eight years as a committee member of the Biomedical Translation Fund — a $500 million innovation and commercialisation fund seeded in equal parts by Commonwealth and private capital.

Her other current roles include board trustee and investment committee member of HMC Capital Partners, business council advisory member of Anacacia Capital, and a people committee member of Hockey Australia.

She has also previously held board positions at MYOB, Isentia, Audinate, Novotech, PageUp People, and the Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific.

Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic said he was pleased to announce Ms Pak-Poy’s announcement and welcomed the appointment of Mr Segars.

“Ms Pak-Poy will be a valuable addition to the Board and her experience in growing companies will support SQC and their incredible innovations in quantum computing,” Mr Husic said.

“I also today welcome the announcement of Simon Segars as SQC’s new Board Chair. He possesses a wealth of leadership experience to the SQC Board, having brought cutting-edge international technology companies from start-up stage to global leadership.”