NC startup Active Defender hosts safety summit & demo day

By Stephanie Meador, posted Jun 19, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

One of the speakers at the event was former FBI agent Rob DePriest. Photo provided by Active Defender.

Active Defender, an industry leader in school safety solutions and emergency communications, brought educators, parents and public safety professionals together earlier this week at Sandhills Classical Christian School in Pinehurst for their first annual School Leadership Safety Summit. The academy is the first in the region to integrate Active Defender’s wearable panic buttons with instant connections to emergency response systems.

“The landscape of school safety is changing. It’s not the same as it was just a few years ago,” remarked Active Defender Founder and CEO Jim Boyte.

Active Defender has come a long way since it was first launched. In addition to serving Moore County, Active Defender has a growing presence in other N.C. counties as well as other states such as California, Florida and Texas.

Engineered to empower educators and school staff to act instantly in the face of threats, Active Defender connects classrooms and campus leaders in seconds, providing mission-critical communication with a single touch. This real-time security technology was a driving force behind Active Defender’s recent award of an NC IDEA SEED Grant, recognizing its innovative approach to school safety.

Active Defender was also awarded a $20,000 Rural Impact Grant through a partnership between NC IDEA and Wells Fargo. This funding, intended to support their continued growth, was crucial in enabling Active Defender to host this summit.

“We hosted this summit to shift the conversation,” said Boyte in a press release. “It’s not about fear — it’s about readiness. It’s about giving our teachers and school staff the same clarity and confidence we expect in any emergency response system.”

Educators led impactful discussions about the real day-to-day challenges they face, including communication breakdowns, information gaps and the emotional toll of being asked to do more with less tools.

“At Active Defender, the absolute heart of it is that you are empowered with the tools [needed] and the staff members all participate together, so that if one of you is reporting something, all of the rest of you can know what's going on. So in those first critical few minutes – no matter where you find yourself – you can always make the right decision,” shared Boyte.

Drawing on his experience building secure systems for the U.S. Special Operations Command, Boyte designed Active Defender not as a product, but as a platform to restore agency to the people who know their school buildings — and their students — best.

Boyte shared that the company plans to host another safety summit next year in Texas. Specifics about the date and location will be revealed later on.

Learn more about Active Defender at https://active-defender.com/.

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