Lynn Carrillo is a seasoned media and entertainment law executive with more than 20 years of experience leading global legal, compliance, and regulatory teams. Before joining FIFA, she served as VP of Legal & Business Affairs at NBCUniversal, overseeing legal strategy for entertainment, news, and sports operations across 45+ countries. A former commercial litigator at Akerman, she has guided high‑profile content initiatives, international bureaus, and major live events. Carrillo has taught media management, ethics, and law at the University of Miami since 2006 and serves as general counsel to the Carmelite Sisters. She received the Alumni Achievement Award at the fall 2025 Law Alumni Association Holiday Celebration and Miami-Dade Judicial Reception.
What inspired you to pursue law school?
My godmother had gone into law, my mom went to UF Law, and this is back in the 70s. They were the first generation of female Hispanic females going to law school, during that time, and so I had always thought of going to law school. I kind of fell into journalism. I talked to the general counsel of the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel at the time, and she encouraged me to continue the thought of going to law school, because I could always come back to journalism. And because of dean Jeanette Hausler, who I had met by being involved in undergrad, I ended up at the law school. She convinced me to come to Miami Law. She encouraged me to apply, because I had gotten into Boston College, Georgetown, and some other schools.
Why did you choose to attend Miami Law specifically?
Dean Hausler at the time was very active at the law school. She was the Dean of Students; she was all involved with the students. I ended up figuring that, it would be a great opportunity, and I thought that it was the right place for me. I also realized that I probably wanted to stay in Miami close to family, and therefore Miami Law with its contacts and its alumni, with the intention of planning to stay in Miami would probably be a good choice, in addition to dean Hausler's encouragement. I think that I'm a very proud alumnus. I found the alumni support extremely useful. And being a double Cane, I felt doubly proud of that.
How would you describe your current role at FIFA and your path there?
I went to a media boutique litigation firm, because I didn't think that opportunity would present itself again. Then I went to Akerman. I went to NBC Universal, as an in-house counsel, and eventually vice president. From NBC Universal, I came to FIFA. I'm the director of commercial legal at FIFA. I deal with the corporate law department, in overseeing all of the commercial matters worldwide for FIFA. Which includes everything from any digital and technology matters as well as oversee the intellectual property portfolio for FIFA. I oversee all the regular commercial matters, such as the media rights, the partnerships, the sponsorships. We build out entire infrastructures—technical infrastructures for every tournament, depending on the size of the tournament, with obviously the World Cup being the largest one.
