Employees globally in 2017: 26,783
Employees in Australia and New Zealand: 2,500
Locations: 650 across 30 countries
Year founded: 1927
Adjusted revenues in 2017: US$4.6 billion
Global brokerage giant Gallagher began operations almost 100 years ago, in 1927. Since then, the operation has expanded rapidly, opening more than 650 offices across 30 countries, all the while maintaining its status as a family-run business.
The network provides a suite of solutions, including insurance, risk management, and consulting, to clients of all sizes. It also offers benefits and HR consulting, through its Gallagher Better Works arm.
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Gallagher has a market capitalization of over US$7 billion with a global workforce of more than 26,000 employees.
Gallagher: History
Founded by Arthur J. Gallagher in 1927, Gallagher can trace its roots back to a humble Chicago basement office. However, its Australian history is significantly shorter, with the firm opening its first location in the continent in 1985.
Despite the firm’s meteoric growth, Gallagher has retained its family-run ethos with nearly 20 members of the family currently holding positions within the organisation. Among them is global chairman, president and CEO – J. Patrick Gallagher – who is the grandson of founder Arthur.
Gallagher: Australian and New Zealand operations
Gallagher employs approximately 2,500 staff and maintains more than 60 locations across the region – including offices in every state and territory of Australia.
Gallagher currently provides broking services to more than 125,000 businesses in Australia and accommodates firms of all sizes – from sole traders to multinational corporations.
Within the region, the group is divided into four operating entities – Australian brokerage Gallagher and New Zealand brokerage Crombie Lockwood, as well as claims management specialist Gallagher Bassett and underwriting firm Pen Underwriting Agencies.
Gallagher Bassett
Gallagher Bassett is dedicated to managing claims and has operations in the US, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand, as well as Australia. In Australia, Gallagher Bassett is the largest multi-disciplinary third-party claims administrator, managing claims on behalf of insurers, brokers, government bodies and self-insured organisations.
The firm has provided specialist outsourced claims management services to brokers since 1998 and partners with brokers across all areas of insurance, including liability, property, accidental and health, financial lines, motor and employee compensation programs.
Pen Underwriting Agencies
Working solely with brokers, Gallagher’s specialist underwriting agency is committed to covering complex and hard-to-place risks.
It creates products and risk solutions across a broad range of insurance classes, including accidental and health, aged and community care, construction, contingency, liability, professional, property, home, and transport.
Gallagher: Corporate Social Responsibility
Gallagher has publicly pledged its commitment to sustainability and community engagement on a global basis and regularly partners with charitable organisations around the world.
It also takes proactive steps to preserve the environment, building sustainability into the networks’ business strategy to minimise environmental impact and ensure energy efficiency.
In 2017, to mark Gallagher’s 90th year, the firm committed to a contribution of 90,000 volunteer hours to better communities right around the world. However, the organisation far exceeded its initial commitment, dedicating over 112,000 of volunteering and support hours within a year.
In Southern Australia, 26 members of Gallagher’s Adelaide office donated 124 hours to support Backpacks 4 SA Kids, providing backpacks full of clothes, toys and personal supplies to children placed in the emergency care system.
Gallagher has also been widely recognised for its humanitarian efforts and, as of 2018, is the only insurance brokerage to be listed on the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute – an achievement the firm has managed for seven consecutive years.
The Gallagher Way
Despite its growth from a small brokerage to a Fortune 500 company, Gallagher still leans on a 25-point list of values drafted in 1984 by then-CEO Robert Gallagher.
The list was created just prior to Gallagher’s public listing and was intended to keep the culture and ethics of the company in the right direction. Dubbed ‘The Gallagher Way’, the tenets include: fear is a turn-off, professional courtesy is expected, empathy for the other person is not a weakness, and we’re an open society.
