Nicholas Pestell
Chief Executive Officer at IVPN
Berlin, Malta
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolNicholas Pestell is a seasoned information security leader and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience building privacy-first products and consultancies. As CEO of IVPN since 2009 and recently of Safing, he combines executive leadership with deep technical expertise in threat assessment, risk mitigation and enterprise security architecture. His background spans hands-on roles at global banks and infrastructure organizations—conducting hundreds of risk assessments and designing PKI and messaging security solutions—giving him a rare blend of operational, financial and infrastructure security perspective. Nicholas founded and led Portell Solutions, applying consultancy rigor to product development and compliance, and he champions privacy as foundational to individual autonomy. Based in Berlin with ties to Malta, he pairs MSc-level academic training in information security with a pragmatic track record of shipping secure systems for high-stakes environments. Notably, his long tenure running a consumer VPN reflects commitment to both user privacy and scalable operational practice.
11 years of coding experience
4 years of employment as a software developer
MSc Information Security, MSc Information Security at Royal Holloway, University of LondonHigh School Diploma, High School Diploma at DamelinSt John's College
Github Skills (12)
git-repo5
vpn-client4
security4
vpn4
openvpn4
privacy3
desktop3
wireguard3
shorewall3
android3
android-app3
puppet2
Programming languages (5)
Github contributions (5)
ivpn/ivpn.net
Nov 2020 - Dec 2022
Official IVPN Website
Contributions:9 reviews, 33 commits, 14 PRs in 2 years 1 month
ivpn
ivpn/doineedavpn.com
Mar 2021 - Mar 2021
Official Git repo of the doineedavpn.com website
Contributions:6 commits, 4 pushes in 9 days
git-repo
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