In 2005, having completed the £70 million capital campaign to create the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum, Caroline become the first Director of PEN International, heading up 145 Centres in 105 countries and acting as the Literature Representative at UNESCO. Taking up the role four days a week also allowed her to start working with her first consultancy client, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai whom she advised and worked with until her death.

Since founding Achates in 2014, the company has advised over 500 organisations of all scales from individual artists and activists to major national charities. For 6 years Caroline worked in partnership with BOP Consulting on the Arts Council England Catalyst and Catalyst: Evolve programmes, designed to support cultural organisations to develop fundraising capacity; teaching, coaching and supporting fundraising teams as well as evaluating the impact of the programmes giving us a unique insight into the driving forces for successful fundraising. Caroline has extensive experience of leading and advising on capital projects, from acting as the lead advisor on the £80million redevelopment of the National Theatre, NT Future; the creation of the National Centre for Writing; the development of DanceEast in Ipswich; the relocation of Garsington Opera; the redevelopment of Birmingham Symphony Hall; amongst many others.

Caroline is Chair of the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation and, in 2015, founded the national campaign for support for the arts, the Achates Philanthropy Prize. She is a Trustee of the National Centre for Writing and an Advisor to youth agency, We Don’t Settle.

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