Batavia, New York, United States, November 2025 – Rachel Jaakkola has stepped into the role of Chief Human Resources Officer at Graham Corporation, marking a proud milestone in a journey that began more than eight years ago at Barber-Nichols, the small but powerful aerospace and defense company that later became part of Graham through strategic mergers and acquisitions. In her new role, she will help guide the organization into its next phase of growth, integrating people, culture, and capability-building across the expanded enterprise.
Before joining Graham Corporation as CHRO, Rachel spent over eight years at Barber-Nichols, where she steadily grew through critical HR leadership roles. She most recently served as Director of Human Resources, leading people strategy during a period of major transformation and multi-company integration. Her earlier tenure as HR Manager and HR Generalist at Barber-Nichols helped her build deep expertise in talent development, workforce planning, and high-performance culture building within engineering-heavy environments.
Prior to Barber-Nichols, Rachel contributed significantly to the energy sector during her nearly five-year tenure at Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. She served as HR Business Partner II and later HR Business Partner I, supporting talent programs, organizational design, and employee engagement in a complex, multi-state operational setting. This experience shaped her strategic lens for HR partnership in technical, mission-critical industries.
Her professional foundations were laid at Colorado State University, where she worked as a Financial Assistant, gaining early exposure to people processes, administration, and organizational coordination. These formative years strengthened her fundamentals in professional alignment, stakeholder support, and workplace problem-solving.
Rachel pursued advanced executive learning at The Wharton School, completing the prestigious Chief Human Resources Officer Program, which sharpened her strategic capabilities for enterprise-level HR leadership. Earlier, she earned her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership with a specialization in Human Resources Management and Services from Regis University, graduating with honors. Her educational journey reflects a strong commitment to continuous learning and excellence in the HR profession.
About Graham Corporation
Graham Corporation is a publicly traded organization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GHM) since 1968. The company is undergoing a renewed period of strategic evolution while staying true to its legacy of delivering highly engineered products. Through the acquisition of Barber-Nichols and P3 Technologies, Graham has expanded its presence into higher-growth, more stable markets, unlocking new opportunities across aftermarket services and advanced technologies.
The company’s culture is defined by leaders with an ownership mindset, technical excellence, and a passion for developing others. Operating as independently driven business units within a shared ecosystem, Graham Corporation provides structured support including mentoring, best-practice systems, capital allocation, M&A capability, leadership development, and organizational coaching to accelerate growth.
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