PROFILE
By the time she was 24, Rachel’ s horizons had been lifted by the birth of her first child.“ I married too young and I ended up as a single mum to my daughter, Imogen, but I was determined to provide for her and save towards having my own home.”
She took her first step into management when she landed a role as quality systems manager with Avecia, carrying on for six years until that part of the business closed and she was made redundant.
Her next move was to a clinical trials facility in Harrogate, where she maintained the upward trajectory with promotion to lead auditor.
By then, she’ d remarried and had a second child, Sophia, with the added pressure of having another baby making her look for work closer to home.
At the start of 2013, a job came up back at Billingham with oil and gas services business Tracerco.
“ It was two levels lower than I was on, but it fitted my life at the time, and the plan was to only stay for a short while,” she says.
However, a vacancy arose for a quality manager and Rachel convinced the company to give her a chance on a six-month trial.
“ There were those who objected because I didn’ t have a degree. They said I should‘ stay in my lane’, but that just made me more determined to prove myself.”
Rachel ended up doing that job for six years, performing so well that she was offered a group role with the company’ s then owners, Johnson Matthey, working as head of compliance with seven companies.
A year later, CEO Jon Tate enticed her back to Tracerco with the promise of a place on the board as director of quality, environmental health and safety. Since then, the role has grown every year with added responsibilities.
The company has offices in 19 countries and employs 430 people globally, 215 of them on Teesside, with Rachel playing a key role internationally.
20 | Tees Business