Cory Vander Jagt VP Business Development & Strategic Alliances, Riverlane

Company

Riverlane is building ground-breaking software to unleash the power of quantum computers. As a spin-out company from the University of Cambridge, Riverlane develops software that transforms quantum computers from experimental technology into a usable commercial product. Riverlane has raised $20m in Series A funding from Draper Esprit, CIC and Amadeus to build Deltaflow, its operating system for quantum computers. Over the past year, they have signed up 20% of the world’s quantum hardware manufacturers to use Deltaflow and will use the funding to expand internationally to the US, Europe and beyond.

Search Background

Riverlane identified that they needed the hire a VP Business Development & Partnerships to help them  build the long-term commercial partnerships they need to be the ubiquitous operating system for quantum. Their investors and another Quantum CEO recommended Hazel Mulhare, Partner at Erevena as the ideal search partner due to her understanding of the quantum computing space.

Requirements

Having raised recent funding in the U.K. and developed key partnerships with labs in Europe, Riverlane were ready to partner with some of the major US tech companies and quantum hardware focused start-ups to make Deltaflow the ubiquitous operating system for quantum hardware. It was important to find someone who resonated with the complexity of the technical problem they are solving, but also focused on a path to large scale commercialization.

We carried out the search strategy of mapping US and European commercial leaderships from other operating systems and open source. The latter resonated with Riverlane, especially identifying US- based candidates who were adept at brokering commercial relationships with a variety of different stakeholders, from leadership through to technical talent.

Result

Cory Vander Jagt, a US-based candidate was placed in the role. He was previously Director of Global Alliances at GitHub, where he was responsible for strategic alliances with cloud platform providers, solution providers, and GSI’s. Prior to this he was Director of Product Marketing at GoodData and VP Product Marketing at Astadia. He started his career in technical enablement and architecture and holds a degree in Engineering from University of Michigan.

Cory is also Riverlane’s first boots on the ground in the US, where a large percentage of their partners and potential partners are located. He also brings with him best practice around remote culture and is a great cultural fit for the team.