Lockhart has more than 20 years of ADR experience, including in-house roles with ING Australia and AMP. A trained mediator, Lockhart has also worked as a consultant with a range of Australian and global organisations, principally in the financial services sector.

She officially started at the AIDC office in Sydney (pictured) on 27 November 2012.

Lockhart replaces veteran arbitrator and ex-Minter Ellison partner Michelle Sindler, who held the role for three years since the establishment of the AIDC in 2010. Sindler has revealed that she resigned from the role to concentrate on her arbitration practice.

Lockhart will also step into the role of Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), a position vacated by Sindler.

The Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) has also been forced to find a replacement for Sindler, appointing Deborah Tomkinson as its new secretary general. Tomkinson had been the deputy secretary general under Sindler since September 2012.

Prior to joining ACICA, Tomkinson was a senior associate in Ashurst’s litigation and dispute resolution team in Sydney and the firm’s international arbitration and dispute resolution group. She is also the dispute resolution manager at the AIDC and will continue in this role.