IT Leadership Spotlight Series: From Former Mayor To Quantum Computing Executive

Farrah N. Khan, former mayor of a large U.S. city, is now an executive at a tech firm and has plenty of thoughts on quantum computing threats, and women’s roles in cybersecurity.

Farrah Khan is the senior vice president of business development at Quantum eMotion America, a provider of quantum communications and security.

Khan also served as mayor of Irvine, Calif., from 2020 to 2024. This week, she is hosting and speaking at the Women Technology Leaders forum on Friday, July 25 in Irvine.

She took time out, however, to speak with MES Computing about her journey from politics to tech, about the threats that quantum computing pose, and about women in the cybersecurity/tech space.

Talk a bit about your journey from politics to technology, and your current role at Quantum eMotion.

It’s really been a roller coaster ride. I started off in biotech and was a regulatory affairs director for a while. From that, I got into small business, and from there became an executive with a nonprofit which kind of led me into politics.

[I was] seeing firsthand the need that we had in our city for someone that was going to come in and open doors for the community and take a good look at how we can bring more business into the city.

[After] serving two terms as mayor ... I had a meeting with the CEO and COO of Quantum eMotion and they were talking about encryption and harvesting and Q-Day ... it was just so interesting to me. I was like, this is something I want to be part of because it’s something that’s happening right now, but we’re also working toward the future, which is critical.

Does any of your political background help you in your current tech role?

I think it definitely helps me because of all the connections that I’ve made with so many people at so many different levels. Just having that conversation with them about Q-Day and what’s coming and why cybersecurity is about to flip on its head with quantum computing – it makes it so much easier. I think I’ve built that trusting relationship with folks where when I speak to them, they’re like, OK, maybe we need to look into this a little bit more.

What is your take on ‘Q-Day?’ And why is it important for businesses, organizations, and governments to know about?

Right now, we know that there are people harvesting data. And they’re harvesting it because quantum computing technology is not available to them to decrypt the codes to access that data. But when that access is made available, that is what we’re preparing for.

That’s the Q-Day. And when they have that access, the cybersecurity right now that we have, all of those encryptions, will be unlocked.

With Quantum eMotion, we have the technology that is looking at that encryption and using quantum random number generation to make sure that lock is never unlocked.

For example, if you have a key, you know that when you put that key in the lock it has to match up to those digits or those cuttings.

When you have higher technology, it’s able to figure out where the cuts are and how to copy the key.

If people are able to access that data, what will happen?

That’s really what Q-Day is. We don’t have a definitive number of days or years where we expect it to heppen because it really is based on that access to quantum computing .

But that day is coming and we want to make sure everyone is prepared.

Our audience comprises midmarket IT leaders. What do they need to know about Q-Day?

[Q-Day] is going to affect every industry, absolutely . Whether you’re a large corporation or midsize or even small. We don’t know who can become a target... so it really doesn’t matter how big or small you are. It’s being prepared. You do everything you can to protect yourself online to protect your company or your business. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing now. We need people to be able to protect themselves at every level. And one of the best ways to do it is reach out to us, have a conversation. We’re happy to have a conversation on guiding you on where your need might be most impactful. Have a conversation. That’s the first step ... get educated, have that conversation and see what the next steps might be.

Let’s talk about women in cybersecurity.

I think there are so many women with so much talent. And what we continue to see through the decades and even now is that it’s an anomaly to have a woman leading in technology. There’s far too few that are in leading roles. And that’s really where we need them.

It shouldn’t be a celebration for you to have a woman on your technology team. I think that should be the norm. But it also should be the norm that women are leading in C-suite positions as policy makers, as decision makers. But we don’t see that much of that in technology. And I think that’s the shift that we’re hoping to see in the future is that more women are invested in.

We want to make sure that we’re opening those doors for women, especially for women that are already at the top. What are you doing to bring more women in into these roles? And so there needs to be a continuation of the work that’s being done. Yes, we’ve made progress, but has it been enough? Not really.