Six years ago, right in the middle of COVID, Rachael Gibson joined The Planning Council. She is currently the HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) System Administrator, focusing primarily on back-end operations and compliance for the organizations that utilize the system. She truly values the relationships that she has built with agency partners in this role.
HMIS is a local information technology system used to collect client-level data for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Rachael gets the most satisfaction out of audit season, especially completing it! She conducts approximately 50 audits across 50 different organizations. She shared, “It’s incredibly fulfilling to finish knowing everything is running correctly.”
Before joining TPC, Rachael worked at LINK of Hampton Roads in Newport News, a nonprofit serving individuals experiencing homelessness. As Administrative Manager, she oversaw the HMIS system and all data reporting. Prior to that, she interned with OrchKids through the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Music was and still is Rachael’s passion. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Radford University. Today, she performs with the Virginia Choral Society and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus. In 2025 alone, she participated in nine concerts between the two groups.
Rachael is a local girl, born in Hampton, Virginia, and raised in both Hampton and Yorktown. She comes from a family of five children — two brothers and two sisters (one of whom has passed). There is a ten-year age gap between the oldest and youngest.
Professionally, Rachael would love to attend more conferences and professional development trainings, particularly in person.
On a personal note, the famous person she would most like to have lunch with is Princess Diana. “She seemed like a genuinely kind and down-to-earth person.”