Dr Tobias Feakin is Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology. He commenced as Ambassador for Cyber Affairs in January 2017, before having his mandate expanded to reflect the central role that technology issues have in geopolitics.

He leads Australia’s Whole of Government international engagement to advance and protect Australia’s national security, foreign policy, economic and trade, and development interests in cyberspace and critical technology.

Ambassador Feakin was a member of the Independent Panel of Experts that supported the Australian Cyber Security Review to produce Australia’s 2016 Cyber Security Strategy. Following that, he led the creation of Australia’s International Cyber Engagement Strategy.

Prior to his Ambassadorial appointment, Dr Feakin was the Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute from 2012 to 2016 where he established the Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre. Prior to this he was Director for National Security and Resilience at the Royal United Services Institute in London from 2006-2012.

Ambassador Feakin is a Senior Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s FinCyber Advisory Group which focuses on developing an International Strategy for Cybersecurity and the Global Financial System.

Ambassador Feakin holds an Honours Degree in Security Studies and a Doctorate of Philosophy in International Politics and Security Studies, both from the University of Bradford.

Michael has over 20 years of experience specializing in Information Security. Currently, Head of Security for Telstra Purple Asia, Michael’s primary focus is on Cyber Strategy and working with key clients across the region.

Prior to joining Telstra, Michael served as the CISO for ST Telemedia (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government).

Michael was also the former Director for British Telecoms’ Complex Security Practice with teams spanning Asia, the Middle East and Africa, focusing on Cyber Strategy and National Cyber Defence programs.

Prerana Mehta joined AustCyber, Australia’s Cyber Security Growth Network, as Chief of Ecosystem Development in January 2019, charged to promote Australian cyber capability, talent and profile nationally and overseas. Prerana oversees the national network of Innovation Nodes and is working on a number of programs directly with State and Territory Governments.

Prior to this role, Prerana was Minister Counsellor and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner in Singapore, leading Austrade’s operations in promoting trade and investment opportunities from Australia to the ASEAN region. Previously with Austrade, as Director, Ministerial Business Missions, Prerana led Australian business leaders on ministerial missions for the Prime Minister and the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

Over the last 18 years, Prerana has developed extensive experience living and working in Asia and the Pacific region in both public and private sectors. As a consultant for DFAT in Jakarta Indonesia, Prerana established a risk and fraud governance framework for Australian Aid funded projects. Prerana worked with Deloitte in Papua New Guinea as Manager for Risk Services and prior to that with International SOS in Hanoi.

Prerana is Chair of the Australia Indonesia Business Council ACT Chapter and a Director on the board of SisterWorks, a NGO for migrant and refugee women entrepreneurs.

Kerry Singleton is Managing Director of Cybersecurity for Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC) at Cisco. He is responsible for the strategy and growth of Cisco’s security business in the region, and driving Cisco as the No. 1 security partner and advisor to customers and partners.

With two decades of expertise in the Security and IT industry, both within and outside of Cisco, Kerry’s role is focused on developing and positioning cybersecurity as an integral foundation for all businesses. Prior to his current role, Kerry was Director of Cybersecurity for ASEAN, and before that, Regional Director for Advanced Threat Solutions in APJC at Cisco, where he worked on interfacing new technologies into Sales and Technical Teams, Business Unit, Marketing, Sales and Channel to grow the business within the region.

Kerry joined Cisco following the acquisition of Lancope in 2015, where he was the Director for MEAR and APJC managing the Sales and Systems Engineering teams for the region. Before joining Cisco, Kerry worked as an SE Manager for DDI company Infobox. Prior to that, he held various roles on the customer side at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and British Airports Authority (BAA). Kerry holds a Master’s Degree from The University of Strathclyde, Scotland and a Bachelors in Science from Massey University, New Zealand. He is married and has a two-year old son, Ethan.