Congratulations to Rachael Smith on being named as a finalist at this year’s British Forces in Business Awards.

Rachael has been cited in the Role Model of the Year category, which recognises former servicemen and women who have transitioned successfully to the business world and been a strong and effective role model to other service leavers in the last 18 months.

After serving in the Army for ten years, Rachael joined us as HR Business Partner 13 years ago and has progressed to become an important member of the senior leadership team, driving major business transformations through excellent leadership, meticulous programme management and sound commercial acumen.

As well as charting a path to her current position as Head of HR – Strategy and Transformation, leading on significant projects along the way, she has been the driving force behind our commitment to ensuring we are a place where veterans can thrive.

Rachael was instrumental in the creation of our veterans network, which is sponsored at Board level by CEO Neil Martin. The network acts as an important advisory to the Board, telling them what matters most to our veterans and how we can best support them.

In addition, she has been leading on the Armed Forces Community strategy and recruitment campaign, which has already seen several veterans join the business in the last 12 months, and acts as a mentor to new starters joining from a forces background, offering them formal support from day one. Rachael also encouraged the business to support Reservists service through formal policy creation and is currently progressing our accreditation process for the Armed Forces Covenant towards silver.

Mike Hickson, Managing Director of Defence, said: “Rachael has transformed how the veteran community is viewed at Sir Robert McAlpine and is a fantastic role model for what a veteran can achieve, turning the company into a veteran-friendly landing place. She has put in place all the support required to ensure veterans have success when they join, and her passion and enthusiasm has brought others along with her.

Rachael would be an extremely worthy recipient of this award and we wish her the very best of luck.
Mike Hickson Sir Robert McAlpine, Managing Director of Defence

The Forces in Business Awards were founded in 2018 to challenge the barriers faced by the more than 15,000 people who leave the Armed Forces each year looking to establish a meaningful second career.

The winners will be revealed on Thursday 26th June.

26th June 2025

Grosvenor House

TBC

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