PQShield is strengthening its leadership team with the appointment of Hal Conklin as Chief Commercial Officer, and Gemma Ungoed-Thomas as Sovereign Advisor. The appointments come at a crucial moment as demand for quantum-safe security rapidly moves from policy planning to active deployment across enterprise, government, and critical national infrastructure.
Together, these appointments strengthen both pillars of PQShield’s growth strategy: scaling global commercial operations, and deepening strategic engagement with governments on national security and sovereign resilience.
Scaling global commercial growth
Hal Conklin joins PQShield as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) with more than 30 years of experience turning emerging technologies into scalable businesses.
Hal has led go-to-market strategies for companies later acquired by Arm, Synopsys, Autodesk, Ansys and Cellebrite, and has experience spanning early market traction, strategic partnerships and scaling revenue organizations.
At PQShield, Hal will lead global commercial strategy across sales, partnerships and go-to-market execution, with a particular focus on growing the company’s US operations and customer base, while accelerating adoption of post-quantum cryptography globally.
“Post-quantum security is moving into a much bigger commercial phase, particularly in the US as government, defence and critical infrastructure organisations turn migration plans into real deployment decisions. I’ve seen how quickly markets can scale when the technology, customer need and go-to-market model align, and that is the opportunity I see here. My focus will be on building the commercial engine, deepening our US presence and converting growing demand into long-term customer relationships at scale.”
– Hal Conklin, Chief Commercial Officer at PQShield
Strengthening sovereign security expertise
Gemma Ungoed-Thomas joins PQShield as Sovereign Advisor, bringing extensive experience at the intersection of emerging technology, government, and national resilience.
As former Director for State Threats, Cyber and Technology in the UK Cabinet Office, Gemma advised the Prime Minister and Cabinet on cybersecurity, AI, and emerging technology. She led delivery of the UK’s £2bn National Cyber Strategy, and previously led national cyber incident response at the National Cyber Security Centre.
Her appointment strengthens PQShield’s ability to support governments and critical infrastructure organizations, as post-quantum security becomes fundamental to national security, defense, supply-chain resilience, and the protection of long-life infrastructure.
“Post-quantum security is rapidly becoming a national security priority, at a time when AI is also reshaping the threat landscape. Governments are having to think now about how they protect critical infrastructure, strengthen supply chains and ensure the systems they depend on can remain secure for decades. PQShield is already working at the heart of that transition, and I’m looking forward to advising the company as it supports public sector and critical infrastructure organisations globally.”
– Gemma Ungoed-Thomas, Sovereign Advisor at PQShield
From standards to real-world deployment
This momentum reflects a wider market shift as the global transition to post-quantum security moves from standards and policy into procurement and real-world deployment.
PQShield is already seeing that shift across Fortune 500 networking and semiconductor companies with deployments ranging from high-performance post-quantum cryptography in leading firewall technologies to small-footprint PQC solutions for Edge AI.
Beyond commercial tech, PQShield is actively engaged with oil, gas, and energy operators, defense, and other government entities across the UK, US, and Japan.
This shift is backed by mounting government mandates and aggressive commercial timelines:
UK (NCSC): Target set for full PQC migration by 2035, with discovery and planning required by 2028 and high-priority migrations due by 2031.
US (White House): Accelerated nationwide migration mandates targeting high-value federal systems and critical infrastructure operators.
Tech Sector Leader Timelines: Major infrastructure providers like Cloudflare and Google are targeting full post-quantum security as early as 2029.
“Post-quantum security has reached a critical turning point. With standards finalized and government migration deadlines set, organizations face the urgent task of securing complex, long-life systems against both quantum and AI-driven threats. PQShield exists to deliver that core resilience. Hal and Gemma bring the sovereign and commercial expertise needed to scale our mission globally, helping customers navigate these dual technology shifts with confidence.”
– Ali El Kaafarani, CEO and co-founder of PQShield