With a 25-year career at the leading edge of emerging technologies, cyber and geopolitics, Dr Toby Feakin is an outcomes-focused creative senior leader who combines innovative thinking, negotiation and practical delivery on the global stage.
From 2017 to 2023, he was Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, leading the nation’s international approach to technology issues. This role placed him at the epicentre of global decision-making around technology and geopolitics.
Dr Feakin is a leading technology strategist – he conceived and led the Australian Government’s foreign policy and international engagement on cyber and critical technology. He was responsible for creating two world-leading International Engagement Strategies for Cyber and Technology.
A trusted advisor to multiple Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and senior business leaders, Dr Feakin maintains a global network of senior leaders across government, the private sector and civil society.
In June 2023, Dr Feakin launched Protostar Strategy, which advises and equips leaders to navigate the geopolitical and technological landscape facing their organisations, positioning them for success.
From 2012 – 2016, he was the Director of National Security at ASPI, overseeing the Institute’s work on Counter-Terrorism, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Border Security and Policing. Before arriving in Australia, he served as the Director of National Security & Resilience at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London from 2007 to 2012.
Dr Feakin is a Senior Associate Fellow of RUSI, a founding member of the ASPEN Institute’s Global Cybersecurity Group, an Expert Advisor to the University of Oxford’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, an Expert Advisor to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s FinCyber Strategy Project and a member of the Independent Advisory Board to the Tech Policy Design Centre at the Australian National University.