Caroline Slocock became Chief Executive of the Refugee Legal Centre in November 2007. As Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission between 2002 and 2007, she helped push gender equality much higher up the agenda. Before joining the EOC, she was in charge of the National Childcare Strategy at the Department for Education and Skills, greatly expanding the amount of childcare and nursery education. She worked for many years in the Treasury, including as a Senior Adviser on Public Expenditure, where she reformed the public expenditure system. Caroline was the first woman Private Secretary at No 10, working directly to Margaret Thatcher and then John Major.