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Quantum-Systems Inc. hires Army aviation leader Raymond Santiago

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September 21, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Quantum-Systems Inc. announced September 21, 2026, the appointment of Raymond Santiago as Vice President of Growth & Strategic Engagement, The Americas, signaling a direct transition from military leadership to a key role within the defense technology sector. Formerly a U.S. Army aviation leader, Santiago will now spearhead strategic growth and engagement efforts across the United States and the Americas, using his decades of experience in defense modernization.

Born in Puerto Rico, Santiago also brings a personal connection to the region as he focuses on strengthening partnerships and supporting aviation modernization throughout Latin America. “Ray brings a rare combination of operational experience, strategic perspective, and a deep understanding of how emerging technologies move from concept to operational capability,” said Dave Sharpin, CEO of Quantum-Systems Inc.

Santiago’s Aviation & Defense Experience Drives Americas Expansion

With over 4,000 aircraft under his purview during his Army career, Raymond Santiago now applies decades of aviation leadership to Quantum Systems Inc.’s growth strategy across the Americas. His previous role focused on modernizing U.S. Santiago’s background extends beyond technology; he previously advised senior leaders within the Department of Defense and engaged with U.S. embassies abroad, cultivating relationships important for international defense partnerships. Santiago’s responsibilities include strengthening connections with defense and security communities both in the United States and across Latin America, translating customer requirements into tangible capabilities.

Beyond his professional achievements, Santiago’s birthplace of Puerto Rico informs his approach to regional engagement. He specifically expressed pride in the opportunity to advance aviation modernization throughout Latin America, signaling a focused effort to build partnerships and address unique regional challenges. His advanced degrees from National Defense University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland further demonstrate a commitment to strategic thinking and data-driven leadership, qualities Quantum Systems intends to use as it expands its presence in the Americas.

Ray brings a rare combination of operational experience, strategic perspective, and a deep understanding of how emerging technologies move from concept to operational capability.

Dave Sharpin, CEO of Quantum-Systems Inc.
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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