Laura Schulz is the acting department head for Quantum Computing and Technologies at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching near Munich, Germany. At LRZ, Laura has driven forward several initiatives in the realm of supercomputing – including future computing, AI and quantum as well as building large-scale global partnerships -  in her role for strategic development and partnerships.  She received her Diplom from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich in 2005. Before joining LRZ, she worked in the Computation directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), as well as in a leading role in LLNL’s High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC) aimed at connecting industry with novel technologies in HPC and beyond. Laura is the lead author of LRZ’s Strategic Plan for Quantum Computing and the co-founder of the monthly Bavarian Quantum Computing eXchange (BQCX). Ms. Schulz has served on conference and workshop program committees, including SC and ISC, and created the yearly forward-lookingNextGen HPC event series, bringing together leading researchers in the field of advanced computing.