Deirdre O'Donnell

Deirdre O'Donnell became Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman at the end of May 2007.

Before then, she was the state Ombudsman for Western Australia for five years, where her role was to receive and investigate complaints about government administrative practices. Deirdre was also a State Records Commissioner, a member of the Western Australian Integrity Coordinating Group, and the Energy Ombudsman for WA.

In recognition of her work in WA, Deirdre received a public service medal in the Australia Day Honours for 2008.

Between 1990 and 2002, Deirdre was employed in the telecommunications industry. She was Deputy Ombudsman at the TIO between 1999 and 2002, and held senior regulatory positions at Optus and the industry regulator, Austel (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority), as well as working for the former Telecom. In her various positions she had responsibility for areas such as numbering, interconnect, class licensing, competition policy and consumer consultation.