Rachael Shimmin has been Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire County Council since September 2016. Previously, she was Corporate Director for Children and Adults Services at Durham County Council where she had responsibility for a revenue budget of over £800m and a team of over 3,000 people. Rachael has extensive experience in the key sectors of children’s services, adult social care, and health and community safety.

Rachael helped to lead local government reorganisation in County Durham, delivering a single unitary council for the county in 2009 along with significant financial savings. Rachael held a variety of roles in Councils across the North East and for a number of years was the regional Chair of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)/ The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) as well as the local government representative on a variety of regional boards and national boards predominantly focusing on issues relating to health and social care.

Rachael is a qualified Executive Coach and a Peer Reviewer for the Local Government Association.

In her current role Rachael is a member of the Association of County Chief Executives (ACCE), the clerk to the Lieutenancy in the County of Buckinghamshire, the Local Government representative for the Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire and Berkshire West STP, the Lead Chief Executive for the South East Strategic Leaders and member of the University of Bedfordshire University Court. In addition, Rachael is the County Council representative for The Association of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (ALACE), the County Council representative for the Local Government Association Housing Board and a member of the Local Government Association Prevention at Scale Programme Board.  

In 2014, Rachael was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Birthday honours list for services to social care.