Carolyn Lidgerwood
Authority Member and Gambling Lead, ACMA
Carolyn Lidgerwood was appointed to the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) as a full-time Authority Member in September 2023. At the ACMA, Carolyn is the Authority Lead for Gambling, and also for Content and for Compliance and Enforcement. Carolyn is based at the ACMA’s Melbourne office.
Carolyn joined the ACMA after working as a lawyer and regulatory compliance expert with leading global and Australian organisations for more than 30 years.
Immediately prior to being appointed as an ACMA Authority Member, Carolyn was Head of Privacy at Rio Tinto for 12 years. Rio Tinto is the world’s second largest mining and metals group. In this global role, Carolyn established Rio Tinto’s data privacy program and provided legal and compliance advice across Rio Tinto’s operations in 35 countries.
Prior to Rio Tinto, Carolyn was General Counsel and Company Secretary at Southern Cross Media - then Australia’s largest regional broadcasting company – where she provided legal and regulatory support to 66 commercial radio stations and 21 television stations. Carolyn was also Special Counsel at Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers in Sydney for more than a decade, after working in both private and public sector roles in the early years of her career.
In April 2024, Carolyn received the Privacy Vanguard Award for Oceania from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) – an award for privacy professionals ‘who have achieved greatness in leadership, knowledge and creativity’. Carolyn has also previously been included in the Legal 500 'GC Powerlist' for Australia and in the ‘Best Lawyers' listing (for broadcasting law).
Carolyn grew up on a farm at Tungamah in north-east Victoria, Australia and holds honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne.
