Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Navy veteran sailing high in new career as she’s shortlisted for national award

Ms Pacey joined the Royal Navy straight from school as an operator mechanic and served seven years with the service. HMS Southampton, a type 42 destroyer based in Portsmouth, was the first ship she worked aboard.
Ms Pacey joined the Royal Navy straight from school as an operator mechanic and served seven years with the service. HMS Southampton, a type 42 destroyer based in Portsmouth, was the first ship she worked aboard.

An ex-Navy servicewoman from Inverurie has been recognised on the national stage after swapping life on the frontline for the business sector.

Rachael Pacey has been shortlisted as a finalist for the ‘Team Leader of the Year’ award in the Ex-Forces Business Awards for her work as Implementation Team Lead with Aberdeen based IT services company Solab.

The 38-year-old, originally from Market Harborough, England, served seven years in the Navy before retiring from the force and taking on a career with the Aberdeen firm last year.

Just 12 months on, she is being recognised for her efforts.

The national awards scheme, the world’s leading celebration of military veterans in second careers, broke new records this year, receiving 260 nominations.

The awards will culminate with a ceremony in Glasgow on August 19, marking the first major gathering of Scotland’s military and business communities in 18 months.

Sharing her journey to inspire others

Ms Pacey spoke of her delight at being shortlisted.

She said she hopes has accomplishments will inspire fellow ex-military personnel to peruse a career in business.

She said: “I have been extremely impressed with the work of the Scottish Ex-Forces in Business Awards to highlight the value that ex-forces personnel can bring to businesses with their transferrable skills and experience,” she said.

“I felt it was important for me to communicate my own experience and career journey after leaving the Royal Navy.

“I am very grateful that Solab recognises the value in supporting the transition of ex-forces personnel and I hope my career choice on leaving the military will help empower current and future service men and women to carve out new careers in business.”

Kevin Coll, Solab Managing Director congratulated Ms Pacey on being shortlisted, describing her as a true inspiration to many.

Serving aboard HMS Southampton

Ms Pacey joined the Royal Navy straight from school as an operator mechanic in communications in the Warfare Branch. After basic and trade training, Rachael joined her first ship, HMS Southampton, a type 42 destroyer based in Portsmouth.

In her four years onboard HMS Southampton, she served across the globe in various deployments.

HMS Southampton was part of the task force in the Gulf as aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious’ escort in Operation Veritas. Rachael went on to join HMS York as a Leading rating, another Portsmouth-based type 42 Destroyer for two years.

After serving in the Royal Navy for seven years, Ms Pacey relocated to London to work for the Security Service before moving to Scotland in 2009.

She spent five years working for Police Scotland in support roles before moving into the Oil and Gas industry for Lloyds Register, where she started as Logistics Coordinator and was promoted to Global Logistics Manager for the energy division.

Since joining Solab in 2020, the 38-year-old is now in charge of a team of five and plays a crucial role in the successful implementation of Onboard Tracker, the Crew Management, Training and Competence Software.


Read more:


Role model

Solab, which has been in business in north-east since 1991, is one of the area’s leading IT support and software companies delivering expert IT services and solutions including Onboard Tracker, the Crew Management solution for highly regulated industry.

Kevin Coll, Solab Managing Director, said he was extremely proud that Rachael’s business achievements with Solab are being recognised.
He said: “We are extremely proud of Rachael and all that she has achieved in her career, both as a servicewoman and a businesswoman.

“Rachael is an incredible role model and by bringing her military gained skills and values to her role, she is helping to lead our business success and is a true asset to the Solab team.

“We are delighted she has been nominated as a finalist and we wish her the very best of luck at next month’s awards.”