Hilary is Chief Executive at the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP), which she helped to establish in 2011. She leads on setting the strategic economic priorities for the South East Midlands area, including overseeing a £265m programme of capital investment through the Local Growth Fund. During her tenure, SEMLEP has published the Local Industrial Strategy and Strategic Economic Plan for the area, Skills Plan and Energy Strategy. Hilary works closely with central Government, local authority, regional and private sector partners and the national network of Local Enterprise Partnerships to enable the delivery of infrastructure to unlock economic and housing growth, develop skills and create good quality places.

From 2008 to 2011, Hilary was Director of the Milton Keynes South Midlands Growth Area (the largest growth area in the UK).

As Director of Network Strategy at the Highways Agency from 2001 to 2007 she developed the investment strategy for the motorway and trunk road network.

Hilary graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in economics and joined the Department of the Environment as an economist working initially on housing and then, from 1984, local government finance.