About AXRA

Ty Hopkins has more than 25 years of security experience, spanning high-threat close protection, security programme leadership, crisis response and international operations. His work includes advising principals through complex legal proceedings and directing security for royal households, global businesses and international productions.

Between 2018 and 2021, he built and directed a multidisciplinary protective operation for a foreign royal household. The programme involved more than 30 people across multiple sites and an annual security budget of approximately £5 million. He held responsibility for personnel, training, procurement, technology, assets and the delivery of the wider security operation.

He was the principal point of contact through complex legal proceedings, police and government involvement, foreign security-service interest and sustained media scrutiny. Living within the household for much of the engagement gave him a close understanding of the principal’s circumstances. His role combined personal protection with direct advice on decisions affecting the family’s safety, legal position and daily life.

His wider experience includes establishing a permanent residential and diplomatic security function in 2016, building its operating structure, personnel standards and physical-security systems from the ground up. The team and core standards remained in place almost a decade later.

For a global technology company, he supported a seven-year international programme involving personnel and confidential pre-release technology, with up to nine visits to India each year. His responsibilities included protecting sensitive assets in transit and overseeing secure handling and destruction involving hundreds of thousands of devices. Across a separate six-year programme of major corporate events and AGMs, he coordinated corporate security, close-protection and venue teams, including planning employee movements for events attended by approximately 10,000 to 12,000 people.

His media experience includes security management for MTV Networks Europe, covering studios, corporate locations and outside broadcasts. During the 7 July 2005 London bombings, he led efforts to locate and account for approximately 50 staff and presenters amid severe disruption. From 2011 to 2013, he managed security across four Indian Premier League media crews, covering approximately 240 personnel and more than 60 matches in around 30 days, supported by an in-country network of intelligence, medical and local contacts.

For Son of the Soil in Lagos, he joined before filming as Production Supervisor and Security Adviser. He spent an initial eight weeks on the ground assessing the operating environment, establishing local security capability and integrating protection with the production’s schedule, budget and creative requirements. He coordinated producers, investors, cast, crew and local partners, returning for subsequent press, premiere and release requirements.

His international work spans Europe, Africa and Asia. He draws on open-source intelligence and trusted local networks to assess threats, advise clients and build security arrangements that can be sustained in practice.

Chee Keong Cheung brings two decades of experience across film, international business and production to his role as AXRA’s Director of Business Development and International Relations. He is the founder and CEO of Action Xtreme, with a career spanning production, distribution, mentorship and international collaboration.

After studying film at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, he built professional relationships across the UK and international film industries, including relationships with Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Madsen and Ian McKellen. He has served on festival juries, delivered masterclasses at the BFI and mentored emerging talent through Film London.

His work requires bringing together creative teams, finance, distribution and local partners across different countries and business cultures. Those relationships extend into the wider business and finance communities and inform his work developing international partnerships for AXRA.

His production experience includes Son of the Soil, a Nigerian-set thriller made with AXRA’s security involvement. The project brought production and security planning together on location in Lagos, coordinating the needs of the film with the operating environment.

At AXRA, he leads business development and international client relations, building relationships with organisations, family offices and partners. He connects clients with the operational team and helps establish the relationships needed to support work across borders.

Ioanna Karavela brings 15 years of international production and operational management experience to her role as AXRA’s Chief Operations Officer. She leads the planning, resourcing and delivery of engagements across the UK and internationally.

She has managed productions in Morocco, Nigeria, Greece, Hong Kong and Hungary, coordinating people, suppliers and local requirements within fixed production schedules. Her responsibilities have included integrating security and close protection into the wider operation, managing risk assessments, permits and compliance, and maintaining crew welfare across different regulatory and safety environments.

On Son of the Soil in Lagos, she worked with security teams from pre-production through to completion. The assignment required security arrangements to be considered alongside movement, logistics, local infrastructure and the practical demands of keeping a production running.

At AXRA, she manages operational planning, logistics, supplier and partner relationships, and coordination across locations and jurisdictions. She brings experience of making decisions on location, resolving problems as they arise and keeping the people responsible for delivery working to the same plan.