IQMP Announces Inaugural Leadership Team Heading Illinois’ Quantum Park 

Insider Brief

• The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) has announced its inaugural leadership team, led by Director and CEO Harley Johnson, who will oversee a historic campus on Chicago’s South East Side focused on quantum technology development, economic growth and community investment.
• Key leaders include Laura Appenzeller as Chief Operating Officer, Brian DeMarco as Chief Technology Officer, and Greg Feltman as Senior Advisor, each bringing extensive experience in research, innovation, and strategic project management to advance Illinois’ position as a global quantum hub.
• The IQMP, supported by major investments from Governor JB Pritzker and partnerships with entities like DARPA and anchor tenant PsiQuantum, aims to create an ecosystem for quantum technologies with implications across industries and research fields.

PRESS RELEASE — the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park announced the inaugural leadership team that will be steering operations for the historic campus located at the former South Works site on Chicago’s South East Side. The team brings a unique depth of expertise and decades of relevant research experience to their roles, where they will manage the day-to-day operations of a campus that will bring economic development, job creation and community investment to the state. This first-of-its-kind project will support the full ecosystem of companies, researchers, suppliers and other partners working to facilitate the development of quantum technologies, and will build on historic investments by Governor Pritzker and the state to further establish Illinois as a global hub for this emerging technology.

Harley Johnson, a Founder Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will serve as Director and CEO of the IQMP, and was officially confirmed in this role by the Board of Managers last month. The IQMP also announced Laura Appenzeller will serve as Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer and Brian DeMarco as Associate Director and Chief Technology Officer. Greg Feltman is serving as a senior advisor providing day-to-day support to the IQMP leadership.

“The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park will bring innovation, job creation, and economic development to the South Side of Chicago and extend across every corner of our state. I’m thrilled to see such talented individuals step into leadership roles that will guide the day-to-day operations of the campus,” said Wilbur C. Milhouse III, Chair of the IQMP’s Board of Managers and chairman/CEO of Milhouse Engineering & Construction. “There is no team better positioned to lead this historic opportunity than Harley, Brian, Laura and Greg, and I am excited to see how they utilize their unique breadth of experience to bring this park to life.” 

Harley Johnson has been a member of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty since 2001. From 2019 to 2024, he served as the Associate Dean for Research in The Grainger College of Engineering. As a researcher, his work has focused on electronic and quantum materials, and he is the PI and Director of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, a National Science Foundation center focused on fundamental research in electronic, ionic, and quantum materials.

“My research career has focused on understanding electronic and quantum materials, and as an administrator I have helped to develop many ambitious engineering projects, so it’s an incredible honor to serve as Director and CEO of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park,” said Harley Johnson. “The IQMP will build on the state’s historic investments in quantum and our strong existing ecosystem to further cement Illinois as a global leader in an industry that has the potential to solve some of the biggest challenges we face today. I am grateful that the Board of Managers has entrusted me to lead the park, and I look forward to working with Laura, Brian and Greg on this first-of-its-kind project.”

Laura Appenzeller, the IQMP’s Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer, serves as the Executive Director of the University of Illinois Research Park and the university’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation. The Research Park, located on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is home to more than 100 companies, including large corporations and startups. 

Brian DeMarco, the IQMP’s Associate Director and Chief Technology Officer, joined the University of Illinois’ Physics Department in 2003, and his research team has advanced the frontier of quantum science and technology using light and atoms for over 20 years. DeMarco is also the Director of the National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks and the Director of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST) housed in The Grainger College of Engineering. 

Greg Feltman was most recently a manager for Boston Consulting Group in their Chicago office, where he worked with public and private organizations on large scale transformations, organizational design and strategy. 

The IQMP leadership team will be joined by Dr. Preeti Chalsani, Senior Vice President and Chief Quantum Officer for Intersect Illinois, who will lead business development for the park.

This summer, Governor JB Pritzker, federal, state, and local leaders, and other partners joined together to announce the IQMP. Along with anchor tenant PsiQuantum, who will build the first utility-scale, error-corrected quantum computer, the park will be home to the State’s new partnership with DARPA on the Quantum Proving Ground, a program to test and evaluate quantum computing prototypes.