You may already know the head of the Secretariat, Connie Potter, but you may not be familiar with all of the women who help keep the ATLAS collaboration running smoothly. Sitting around a table with Petya Lilova (Bulgarian), Kate Richardson (British), Christine Demirdjian (French), and Claire Gibon (French), the team of the ATLAS Secretariat, the first question was: “What work in ATLAS falls to the Secretariat?”

They exchanged glances, made at-a-loss sounds like “Well…” and “Pff!” Where to begin? “We’re the mother-hens of ATLAS,” said Christine.

Although collaborators don’t come to the Secretariat with their cuts and bruises, they do come for help with anything from completing paperwork to figuring out how to go about paying their electricity bills. Alongside them, Alexia Leyval helps physicists from the US and Canada get settled near CERN. The women book conference rooms, arrange visits to the cavern, and keep stationary in good supply both in the Secretariat and at Point 1.

The Secretariat also aids ATLAS physicists coming in and out of CERN. Arriving physicists can receive help finding places to live and figuring out how things work in Switzerland and France. One of Christine’s favourite parts of the job is booking the flights and hotels for outgoing physicists attending conferences.

When there’s an event coming up, the women of the Secretariat do the bulk of the planning. For smaller gatherings, they’ll make runs to the local supermarkets. The usual list includes cured meat and paté, cheese, crisps, peanuts, and drinks. “We come back with bags full of goodies,” Kate concludes.

While the women struggled to get at the heart of exactly what they do, when put on the spot, Connie wrote it out: “It’s visa documents and calming down nervous people on the other side of the world who don't have their paperwork sorted. It’s working fancy video and audio conference equipment which many physicists don't understand. It’s bargaining with outside companies to deliver dozens of cupboards, at the lowest prices and in the shortest time, underground.

“It’s talking through -- for hours -- the new database and how it works to so many people. It’s carrying boxes weighing 20, 30 kilos, to keep stocks going in the Secretariat. It’s being able to solve practically any problem thrown at them with the help of a network of colleagues and friends built up in all the key services at CERN. It’s providing chocolate or a glass of something special at the end of a tough week to whoever needs it.”

After Connie, who has worked in the Secretariat from the beginning, Claire is the longest-running member of the team. Her position was initially just for the summer, starting in June 2000, but in September that year, she began working half-time with ATLAS and half-time with ATHENA. By September 2003, she was a full-time employee on ATLAS.

Claire met her husband at CERN, a security guard at the gates, just a few weeks after her arrival. He looked up her CERN registration in the database and discovered the location of her office. “And after, he put a poem on the door of the room,” Claire recounts. It was signed only with his initials, but his secret identity was revealed that afternoon in an email.

Their two sons, 11 months and four years old, form the centre of Claire’s world outside the office. They keep her very busy, but if she has the chance to treat herself to a luxury, she likes to curl up on the sofa with a good detective novel. “And a cup of tea!” she adds. “That’s the best.”

Like Claire, Christine came for what was supposed to be a short stay – just a month – in February, 2001. But the month passed and she’s been working for ATLAS to this day. The two women also share enthusiasm for their children – Christine spends most of her spare time with her six-year-old daughter and 20-month-old son, going for walks or playing in the garden.

“And I like to…bricoler?” she says, as English doesn’t offer an easy equivalent. “I do everything in my house!” It turns out that she is quite the handy-woman, taking on painting, electrical, and woodwork tasks in her home. She enjoys cooking as well, and her husband, a CERN technician, shares household tasks with her.

Kate was next to appear on the scene in 2001, recruited by a London agency. The man who became her husband was a summer student at the time, working on ATLAS, but physics didn’t take with him and he went on to become a fuel trader.

Kate was sorry to leave the team in 2003, but after two years, the company she worked through wouldn’t meet long-term standards like pension and health insurance. She was glad to rejoin the Secretariat last year when her old position opened up. “I came back to my same seat and desk,” Kate says, “and found the same papers in the drawer from years ago!”

She has no children at this point, but she has an active interest in entertaining. She played a starring role in the Geneva English Drama Society’s production of “GamePlan”, which ran from November 4-8th.

She also sings in a rock-pop band called Revan, which made its debut at the Geneva Fête de la Musique this summer. “We’re trying to build up,” she says.

Petya is newest to the team, arriving in 2007 for a six-month project to create the ATLAS Authorship Database. She also found a way to stick around, replacing Claire when she was on maternity leave and continuing since Claire’s return. Her favourite aspect of the job is meeting new people. “Contact with different nationalities was very interesting for me,” says Petya.

Her husband, her high school sweetheart, also works in databases for ATLAS, specifically ORACLE. In their spare time, they like to go walking. “We enjoy the mountains,” says Petya. “Mostly it’s around the Jura, but from time to time, we go to Interlaken.” As their four-year-old daughter walks with them, they tend to take easier trails.

These four women form a cooperative team, and together with Connie, they help keep ATLAS going. “There is not one job for each of us,” says Christine. “It’s difficult to make a list of what we do because it’s different every day.” Beyond the team dynamics, those who have worked in the private sector appreciate the ATLAS atmosphere, which isn’t profit-driven.

“When we come in the morning, we are happy to be here,” says Christine. Which is fortunate since she also says, “I see my colleagues more than my children!”

Should you like to make their lives easier, there are a couple of small things you can do. If a machine doesn’t appear to be working, please make sure that it is plugged in and turned on. Also, the fax machine has detailed instructions posted on the wall behind it.

And, if you do happen to get a cut or bruise, you can come to the Secretariat after all. Their medicine cabinet is stocked with essentials such as bandages, disinfectant, and pain relievers.