Hilary Gilfoy joined the new charity founded by Dame Stephanie Shirley to focus on raising and investing funds in autism research as Project Director in April 2005 and became its Chief Executive in January 2006.  For many years prior to this Hilary was a marketing specialist in the information technology sector, but her involvement with the voluntary sector began  in 2003 when she became fundraising trustee for The Chiltern Centre, a respite centre for disabled children (many with autism)  in Henley-on-Thames. Her business background and the experience gained in this voluntary role have been valuable supports to her work for the charity. She has also twice been a non-executive director of leading NHS trusts, at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford .  She is a member of the Autism Research Co-ordination Group, which advises Ministers on research policy, and of the Advisory Group to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.  She is also a member of a steering group advising the Department for Children, Schools and Families on research into how children with autism fare at school.