OUR INTERNATIONAL TEAM
Global Expertise
Frontline Experience
Future Ready
Kirra Pendergast
Founder and Chief Strategist
Safe on Social & Ctrl+Shft.
Kirra Pendergast is a globally recognised digital trust, safety, and governance strategist whose career spans more than three decades at the forefront of technological transformation. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on digital safety, online risk, and platform governance, she has built a career that bridges deep technical expertise with public policy, child rights, organisational governance, and human-centred systems design
Kirra advises governments, regulators, schools, multinational corporations, law firms, sporting organisations, and critical infrastructure providers on navigating the complex challenges created by emerging technologies, social media, artificial intelligence, and digital ecosystems.
Her career began in 1991 in information technology infrastructure, networking, and enterprise systems at a time when the internet was still in its infancy. Over the next decade, she developed specialist expertise in cybersecurity, public key infrastructure (PKI), identity and access management, digital trust frameworks, and enterprise transformation. She later held senior leadership positions with Verisign, Avanade, CGI Group, and Capgemini, delivering some of Australia’s most significant digital identity and security initiatives.
In early 2009, Kirra founded KCL, the world’s first consultancy dedicated exclusively to social media risk management, governance, and digital reputation management. At a time when organisations viewed social media primarily as a fad, she recognised that it represented a fundamental shift in organisational risk, trust, and public accountability.
Following her own experience as the target of sustained technology-facilitated abuse, cyber harassment, and reputational attacks online, she transformed KCL into Safe on Social in 2013. What began as a personal response to digital harm evolved into a global mission to create safer digital environments through education, governance, evidence-based intervention, and systems reform.
Today, Safe on Social is the world’s largest independent digital safety education and governance organisation, having worked with more than 1,200 organisations across five continents. Through Safe on Social, Kirra has personally delivered education, risk reviews, governance programs, and crisis support to over two million students, educators, executives, professionals, and community members worldwide.
Kirra is recognised internationally for consistently identifying emerging risks years before they enter mainstream discussion. Her work has anticipated major challenges involving online child safety, image-based abuse, cyberviolence, sexual extortion, deepfakes, algorithmic influence, platform accountability, generative artificial intelligence, and technology-facilitated coercive control.
A highly sought-after keynote speaker, expert witness, and media commentator, Kirra has appeared across Bloomberg, CNN, BBC, ABC, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Washington Post, Wired, El Mundo, 60 Minutes, and numerous international publications. She is known for her ability to translate highly technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for leaders, policymakers, educators, parents, and young people.
Based in Florence, Italy and Sydney, Australia, Kirra is recognised for a rare combination of technical credibility, strategic foresight, governance expertise, lived experience, and frontline operational knowledge. Her work has helped define a new discipline at the intersection of digital trust, safety, governance, and human rights one that places people, rather than technology, at the centre of the digital future.
Will Anstee
Global CEO
Will Anstee is first and foremost a father of three and a passionate advocate for protecting the online sovereignty, privacy, and wellbeing of children in the digital age.
His commitment to this mission has been shaped by more than two decades of leadership across the media, technology, and creative industries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, where he witnessed firsthand the growing challenges surrounding data privacy, behavioural targeting, algorithmic influence, and the collection and monetisation of personal information by large technology platforms.
Most recently, Will served as CEO and Executive Chairman of TotallyAwesome, the world’s leading youth-first marketing and media platform. Operating across multiple international markets, TotallyAwesome was built on the principle that brands can engage children and young people in ways that are safe, respectful, compliant, and effective. Leading the business deepened Will’s expertise in child-focused digital ecosystems and strengthened his determination to champion a safer, more ethical internet for both young people and the organisations that serve them.
Widely recognised as one of the Asia-Pacific region’s leading authorities on children’s online privacy, youth digital engagement, and regulatory compliance, Will has extensive experience in GDPR-K, COPPA, and global privacy frameworks. His work has helped organisations navigate increasingly complex regulatory environments while placing the rights and interests of children at the centre of digital innovation.
As Global CEO of Safe on Social and Ctrl+Shft, Will is helping shape the next generation of digital safety, governance, compliance, and risk management. Under his leadership, Ctrl+Shft has evolved into a Human Digital Risk, Governance and Compliance Operating System that brings together online safety, safeguarding, psychosocial risk, AI governance, digital footprint intelligence, workforce education, and regulatory compliance within a single connected ecosystem.
Will’s vision extends beyond compliance. He believes organisations need practical systems that create safer digital environments by design while helping leaders anticipate emerging risks before they become crises. Through Ctrl+Shft and Safe on Social, he is helping schools, businesses, governments, healthcare providers, and high-trust organisations build resilience, accountability, and trust in an increasingly complex digital world.
Will serves on the Singapore Advisory Board of SGTech, supporting Singapore’s ambition to be one of the world’s most trusted technology ecosystems. Known for his entrepreneurial mindset, strategic thinking, and ability to connect innovation with practical outcomes, he is a respected global leader, communicator, and advocate for responsible technology.
His mission is simple, to ensure that the future of technology serves people, protects children, and strengthens trust across every digital interaction.
Nick Marino
President - North America.
Nick Marino leads Safe on Social's North American expansion - translating Human Online Behavioral Risk into institutional adoption across education, enterprise, and government sectors.
A seasoned growth executive, Nick has repeatedly scaled organizations from early-stage to substantial enterprise value, including growing a company from $19M to $150M.
He brings deep expertise across revenue architecture, operational scale, partnership strategy, and executive governance. Having overseen multi-division operations, national sales organizations, and complex P&L environments, Nick specializes in converting strategic vision into structured market penetration.
His background spans commercial enterprises, publishing, media, and national advocacy organizations, giving him fluency across corporate, regulatory, and mission-driven environments.
At Safe on Social, Nick is responsible for:
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US go-to-market architecture.
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Institutional and enterprise partnerships.
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Revenue scalability and sales leadership build-out.
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Government and regulatory engagement positioning.
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Strategic capital and network activation.
He ensures Safe on Social's US presence is not aspirational, but operational, credible, and durable.
Madeleine West
Speaker, Educator & Advisor
One of the worlds most courageous and influential voices on child protection, Madeleine West has transformed personal trauma into powerful public advocacy. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse who successfully took her abuser to court and saw him convicted, she has dedicated her life to ensuring that children are protected, heard, and believed.
Through her acclaimed work on Predatory Podcast and her advocacy for a public child sex offender register, Madeleine has helped shift the national conversation towards accountability, prevention, victim support, and systemic reform. She has become a fearless advocate for survivors and a leading voice challenging institutions and systems that too often protect perpetrators rather than children.
Madeleine actively works alongside ACCCE (Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation) and Project Paradigm, working to combat child exploitation, strengthen prevention strategies, and improve outcomes for vulnerable children and young people. Her advocacy extends beyond awareness, focusing on practical reforms that deliver meaningful protection and support for survivors.
A passionate campaigner for economic justice for survivors of abuse, Madeleine has also been a prominent supporter of Australia’s campaign for Super for Survivors, advocating for legislative change that would allow survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to access superannuation contributions as part of compensation and redress arrangements. Her work continues to highlight the lifelong impact of abuse and the need for survivor-centred reforms.
Through her work with Safe on Social, Madeleine stands on the frontline of modern child protection, educating schools, parents, workplaces, and communities about the realities of online harm. Her presentations address issues including social media misuse, online grooming, group chats, image-based abuse, sextortion, deepfakes, digital footprints, coercive control, and the rapidly evolving tactics used by predators to target children and young people online.
She works across media, education, policy, and advocacy, partnering with law enforcement, educators, governments, and community organisations to strengthen child protection frameworks and improve safety outcomes for women and children, including those living in rural, regional, and remote communities.
A mother of seven, Madeleine brings lived experience, national influence, deep empathy, and unwavering courage to every conversation. She is driven by a simple belief: that every child deserves to grow up safe, every survivor deserves to be heard, and every system responsible for protecting children must be held accountable.
Meg Ryan
Head of Inclusive Education.
Meg Ryan is a global leader in inclusive education consulting who has spent more than two decades working across the education sector. She has a rare ability to distil complexity into clarity, read a room, and make challenging concepts accessible, practical, and actionable. Holding a Master of Education in Inclusive Education from Queensland University of Technology, a Bachelor of Education (Primary), and a Bachelor of Business in Communication, Meg brings together deep educational expertise with exceptional communication skills. The result is professional learning that consistently receives outstanding feedback because she does not simply present information. She tells a story, builds a case, and brings people with her.
Her specialist focus is inclusive education, including NCCD (Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability) compliance and workflows, the Disability Standards for Education (2005), the Disability Discrimination Act (1992), and evidence-based inclusive teaching practices aligned with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). She has conducted NCCD Quality Assurance reviews in more than 55 Queensland schools and spent almost four years leading inclusive education across 36 schools and secondary colleges within Brisbane networks. Principals trust her because she understands the realities of school leadership, compliance obligations, workforce capability, and the students who need championing most.
The key contributor to the development of Ctrl+Shft+RISE (Risk Intelligence for Safer Environments), Meg has helped bridge the gap between inclusive education, student wellbeing, safeguarding, and organisational risk management.
Her work ensures that schools move beyond viewing inclusion as a standalone educational responsibility and instead recognise it as a critical component of child safety, psychosocial wellbeing, governance, and duty of care.
Through RISE, she contributes to frameworks that help schools identify vulnerabilities, strengthen protective factors, improve student outcomes, and build environments where every child has the opportunity to thrive. RISE integrates safeguarding, wellbeing, behavioural risk awareness, digital safety, governance, compliance, and workforce capability into a practical operating framework designed for modern educational environments.
Meg is a systems thinker, a trusted advisor to school leaders, and a steadfast advocate for inclusive education. She believes that inclusion is not simply a compliance requirement or educational philosophy—it is the foundation of safe, healthy, high-performing school communities where every student is seen, supported, and given the opportunity to succeed.
Dr Pinelopi Troullinou
AI Ethics, Children's Rights, Governance & Digital Resilience.
Dr Pinelopi Troullinou is an AI ethics and digital society researcher, professional speaker, and expert trainer whose work explores the intersection of technology, power, children's rights, and everyday life. She helps organisations move beyond well-intentioned principles and policy statements into practical, measurable action, bringing a child-centred, rights-based perspective to AI governance, digital systems, online safety, and responsible technology design.
With a PhD examining everyday surveillance, and extensive experience leading European research initiatives across artificial intelligence, education, misinformation, cybersecurity, and digital resilience, Pinelopi has built a reputation for challenging assumptions and asking the questions that sit at the heart of responsible innovation. Rather than treating technology as inherently neutral, she encourages organisations to examine its wider effects, asking who truly benefits, who is excluded, who is harmed, and what it would take to do better.
An accomplished speaker, facilitator, and professional learning specialist, Dr Troullinou delivers engaging presentations and training programs for educators, school leaders, policymakers, government agencies, community organisations, and corporate audiences. Her ability to translate complex technological, ethical, and regulatory questions into clear, accessible, and practical insights has made her a sought-after presenter.
Her areas of expertise span AI governance, AI literacy, digital ethics, algorithmic accountability, misinformation and disinformation, online safety, digital citizenship, privacy and surveillance studies, emerging technologies, and the societal effects of digital transformation. She is especially committed to ensuring that children and young people remain at the centre of conversations about technology, safety, education, and innovation.
Dr Troullinou's work has consistently placed children's voices and rights at the centre of policy and practice.
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Designed and implemented children's rights-centred impact frameworks for European-funded projects addressing online misinformation, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and digital safety.
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Led the Greek consultation for Our Digital World, Our Say, a global initiative coordinated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the 5Rights Foundation, and the Digital Futures for Children Centre.
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Designed and delivered a Greek national children's consultation on proposed social media restrictions for minors, Our Digital World: Listen to Us First, in partnership with the Network for Children's Rights.
Across all of this, Dr Troullinou contributes to the development of educational frameworks, governance models, and emerging technology strategies that help organisations move through a fast-changing digital world with confidence, accountability, and foresight.
George Peterkin
Mind Your Health - Mental Health First Aid, Safeguarding & Suicide First Aid.
With a background in teaching and experience in pastoral roles, George created Mind Your Health Ltd in 2018 to provide CPD support to educational systems and their staff, parents but most importantly the children and young people.
As of 2026, Mind Your Health provides Mental Health First Aid, Safeguarding and Suicide First Aid to local, national and international communities.
George is also an accredited therapeutic counsellor, with a specialism in Eating Disorders - offering further focused workshops to those who wish to provide support to those living with Eating Disorders.
Anna Hayes
Head of Learning Architecture
& Expert Speaker
With over a decade of experience across classroom teaching, school leadership and national program design, Anna has seen firsthand how rapidly technology has reshaped childhood, often without the systems, safeguards or shared understanding needed to navigate these spaces safely and effectively. Anna has worked across a range of educational settings and previously served as Education Director at Code Like a Girl, a leading social enterprise dedicated to advancing gender equity in technology. In this role, she led the development and delivery of education programs across Australia, partnering with schools, community organisations and corporate stakeholders. These experiences have enabled her to build strong, authentic connections with young people and meaningfully engage them in impactful learning experiences.
Anna's key areas of expertise include:
• Online safety and digital risk management
• Social media governance and responsible use
• Digital well-being and behavioural trends
• Emerging technologies and AI awareness
She has delivered professional learning and keynote presentations across both the education and corporate sectors. Through her work with Safe on Social/Ctrl+Shft, Anna has facilitated workshops for parents, educators and thousands of students nationwide. Anna is committed to equipping young people and communities with the knowledge, confidence and practical strategies required to navigate the online world safely, responsibly and with a strong sense of agency.
Angela Fowler
Executive Assistant , Workflow Optimisation.
Angela is an experienced Executive Assistant with over 19 years supporting senior leaders and ensuring complex operations run seamlessly. She excels at managing busy schedules, coordinating communications, and handling logistics with precision, allowing teams to focus on strategic priorities. Angela is passionate about streamlining processes, improving internal workflows, and enhancing client experiences.
She is driven by creating meaningful impact, which is why she has dedicated her skills to the field of online safety. Whether managing administrative tasks or leading special projects, Angela brings focus, dedication, and that extra 1% attention to detail that turns strong results into exceptional outcomes.
