Lina Nealon believes everyone deserves a joyful and safe childhood. As Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Institute for Families and Technology, she brings together leaders working to protect children’s healthy development in the digital age through advocacy, education, and collaborative initiatives, including the Phone-Free Schools State Report Card.

Prior to joining IFT, Lina served as Vice President and Director of Corporate Advocacy at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, where she led efforts exposing mainstream companies that facilitated or profited from sexual abuse. Posing as a minor across social media, AI, and gaming platforms, she gathered evidence that informed major advocacy campaigns—most notably The Dirty Dozen List—which helped drive significant policy and product changes at companies including Google, Apple, Snapchat, Mastercard, and TikTok.

Lina has advised White House leadership, Members of Congress, governors, attorneys general, and policymakers at federal, state, and international levels. Her policy recommendations have been adopted by the World Bank, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and many other leading institutions. Her writing, work, and commentary are frequently featured in leading media outlets.

Earlier in her career, Lina was the founding director of Demand Abolition, the first U.S. initiative dedicated to reducing demand for commercial sex. She also served as a policy specialist and trainer with Inclusive Security, advancing women’s inclusion in post-conflict peace and reconstruction processes, and as Executive Director of Girls on the Run of the Triangle in North Carolina.

Lina co-founded the World Without Exploitation Coalition and Harvard Kennedy School’s Working Group on Human Trafficking. She was appointed to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force and has served on multiple advisory councils focused on youth empowerment and child wellbeing. She’s a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

Lina loves a witty pun, raucous dance parties, exploring new places, and creative pursuits of all kinds. She and her husband are doing their best to raise four adventurous, independent children in Durham, North Carolina.

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