Senior Management Team

Leonie Milliner

Chief Executive and Registrar

Leonie Milliner is Chief Executive of the General Optical Council. She was previously the GOC’s Director of Education.

Leonie has served on boards and committees of various charities and public bodies in the education and health sectors and the construction industry, including the General Pharmaceutical Council’s Accreditation Panel, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executive's Qualifications Committee, Office for Students Teaching Excellence Panel, as non-executive director of RIBA Enterprises Ltd, Chair of Trustees, RIBA Education Fund, and as the employer representative for the 2016 Quality Assurance Agency Subject Benchmark Statement for Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Food, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences. She currently sits on the Quality Assurance Agency’s UK Advisory Panel for Degree Awarding Powers.

An architect by training, she worked in private practice in London designing social and private housing. She lives in her own self-build 'grand design' in Islington, London.

Carole Auchterlonie

Director of Regulatory Operations

As Director of Regulatory Operations, Carole leads the organisation’s largest directorate which incorporates fitness to practise (FtP), including triage, investigations, interim orders, case progression and hearings, as well as the GOC’s expert in-house legal team.

Carole has a wealth of experience in senior roles across health regulation, complaints resolution, professional organisations and charities. Before joining the GOC as Acting Director of Regulatory Operations in October 2023, she was the Director of Fitness to Practise at the General Pharmaceutical Council where she led the organisation’s first strategy for managing concerns about pharmacy professionals as well as an extensive improvement programme to meet the PSA’s Standards of Good Regulation. Before that, she was Managing Ombudsman for the Financial Ombudsman Service, held Casework Director roles at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and was a Regional Director at the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health. 

Steve Brooker

Director of Regulatory Strategy

As Director of Regulatory Strategy, Steve is responsible for our Education, Policy, Standards and Communications and Engagement functions. 

Steve has a wealth of experience in consumer and regulation policy, having previously worked as the Head, Policy Development and Research at the Legal Services Board – the oversight regulator for the legal profession in England and Wales – and establishing the Legal Services Consumer Panel, which he led for five years. 

Steve was formerly Head of Fair Markets at Consumer Focus where he managed a policy and public affairs team working on a wide range of issues including financial services, the digital economy, consumer law, redress and enforcement.

Steve is a keen photographer, walker and avid tennis watcher.

Yeslin Gearty

Director of Corporate Services 

As Director of Corporate Services, Yeslin is responsible for the Finance, Human Resources, IT and Facilities teams, along with the Registration Department. Yeslin has a broad mix of experience in senior management posts, including working as a Commercial Director in a sales driven corporate environment.

He has over 20 years’ experience in central Government, both as a leader of large operational areas and in change and programme management, with extensive involvement in identifying and managing the impact of change in a variety of commercial and public sector organisations, helping redesign and improve them from the ground up.

Philipsia Greenway

Director of Change

As Director of Change, Philipsia’s role provides professional leadership to the delivery of our five-year strategic plan, ‘Fit for the Future’, which aspires to the delivery of world-class regulatory practice, improved customer service and continuous improvement.

Philipsia has extensive experience in leading delivery of organisational change both within the NHS and the not-for-profit sectors. This has included mergers, organisation redesign, national digital infrastructure changes and operational process changes. As an accredited Change Professional, she has a passion for people focused change, striving always to take people on the journey towards the vision.

Alongside her professional life, Philipsia volunteers with local charities supporting activities that promote a better quality of life for people. This ranges from after school clubs through to food banks and national charities supporting refugees to integrate into society. She is actively involved in her church and local choir group.