Ilyas Khan

When Khan was at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, he stayed at Netherhall House, an Opus Dei student hall of residence. Although he was born a Muslim whilst at Netherhall House he became interested in Catholicism and especially the work of 20th century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and of John Henry Newman.

In 2015 Khan founded Cambridge Quantum Computing, and he has also published on the subject of Quantum Information Processing.

Between 2015-2018 Khan served as chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation, which was established on the initiative of Professor Stephen Hawking to further the study of Cosmology, Astrophysics and Fundamental Particle Physics and to facilitate research into Motor Neuron Disease / Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (MND/ALS).

In September 2015 Pope Francis elevated Khan to a Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great for his contribution to the Church and community.

In 2015 Khan ranked 21st in The Tablet's list of Britain's most influential lay Catholics.

Khan served two terms as the chairman of the prominent British charity Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD) — the largest organization of its kind in the world, with a presence in over 50 countries.

Khan is the non executive senior partner of Stanhill Capital Partners, a merchant banking business with a focus on natural resources which he founded in 1998, during the 20 years (1989–2009) he spent living and working in Hong Kong. He was also one of the founding directors of Australia-based White Energy Company.

Ilyas Khan KSG (born 1962) is a British technologist and businessman. He is married to Mara Hotung, daughter of Eric Hotung and great-granddaughter of Sir Robert Hotung.

Ilyas Tariq Khan was raised in Lancashire (North West England). His grandparents emigrated to Britain in the 1930s. His early schooling was in the old Lancashire Pennine mill towns of Haslingden and then Accrington.