Harry Coker, Jr.
Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce

The Honorable Harry Coker Jr was appointed by Governor Moore as Maryland’s Secretary of Commerce on February 5, 2025. At Commerce, the state’s primary economic development agency, Coker is focused on working collaboratively to help Maryland “Win the Decade” by developing and sustaining an equitable, robust and competitive economy.

Secretary Coker is a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) senior executive, former National Security Agency (NSA) senior executive and career Naval Officer. He was previously America’s National Cyber Director, serving in the White House from 2023 – 2025.

While serving as Executive Director of the NSA, he directly supported the Director and Deputy Director in the strategic and day-to-day leadership of the Agency. During his service with the CIA, Coker was assigned to leadership positions in the Directorate of Digital Innovation; the Directorate of Science & Technology; and the Director’s Area.

Coker’s service to the nation has been recognized with the awarding of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Presidential Rank Award, the NSA Director’s Distinguished Service Medal, the Intelligence Community EEOD Outstanding Leadership Award, and CIA’s Don Cryer Award for Diversity & Inclusion leadership.

Outside of the government, Coker has served as the President of the Central Intelligence Retirees Association (CIRA) and on the Boards of Directors of the US Naval Academy Foundation; the US Navy Memorial; and Dog Tag, Inc. He also served as an Operating Partner with C5 Capital; an Outside Director for JSI Telecom, Inc; on the Strategic Advisory Committee for Octasic, Inc.; on the Editorial Board of Studies in Intelligence; and on the Advisory Boards of Zeeam Government Solutions; and Historic Ships in Baltimore. Coker also served as a Senior Fellow with Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.

A long-time resident of Clinton, MD, Coker currently resides in Baltimore. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Georgetown University Law Center.

Norbert Linke
Director
QLab

Norbert M. Linke is an Associate Professor of Physics, a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, and the Director of QLab, the National Quantum Laboratory at the University of Maryland (UMD). His research focuses on quantum applications of trapped ions and the realization of quantum algorithms. Born in Munich, Germany, he graduated from the University of Ulm, and received his doctorate at the University of Oxford, UK, working on micro-fabricated ion-traps and microwave-addressing of ions. He spent four years as a post-doc and research scientist in the group of Chris Monroe at UMD where he led a project that turned a physics experiment into a programmable quantum computer. He became an assistant professor at UMD in 2019. From 2022 he spent three years at the Duke Quantum Center at Duke University in Durham, NC, and in September 2025 he returned to UMD to become the Director of QLab, a user facility providing access to quantum computers for researchers, educators and start-ups.