Gallagher Re has handed Russell Hails (pictured above) an expanded brief as executive director and head of MGA Solutions for APAC, putting a veteran broker in charge of one of the reinsurance industry's fastest-growing distribution channels.
The promotion builds on the role Hails took on last year, when he joined Gallagher Re with a mandate to rebuild the firm's managing general agent (MGA) proposition in the Pacific market.
In his expanded capacity, he will work alongside teams across APAC and the broker's Global Program Solutions unit to source and execute opportunities in the segment.
Hails arrives at the wider role with a background that spans both facultative and MGA propositions. He most recently operated as a self-employed director from March 2025, following a three-and-a-half-year stint as a partner at Lockton Companies in Sydney that ran from March 2022 to August 2025.
Before that, he spent close to 15 years at Willis Re as executive director for broking, from May 2007 to March 2022.
The appointment lands as Gallagher Re reshapes its senior bench in the region. Earlier this year, the broker named Roshan Perera as managing director and head of Asia-Pacific, with Richard Jones taking on the regional chairman role, following the departure of Mark O'Brien and the retirement of Mark Morley.
The leadership reset is unfolding against a market on a steady growth path. GlobalData projects the APAC reinsurance market will expand at a 4.8% compound annual growth rate to $68.4 billion by 2029, with China alone accounting for 33% of the regional market in 2025.
Hails' elevation also fits a broader hiring run at Gallagher Re across APAC. The firm recently brought in Fabienne Marsoner as an APAC broker, part of a series of facultative platform hires made under a global facultative leadership structure led by Pablo Muñoz that takes in Singapore and Sydney hubs in the region.
That buildout has put the broker in closer competition for specialist talent in a segment drawing fresh capital. MGAs are increasingly viewed by reinsurers as a route into specialty and program business, particularly in markets where local distribution networks shape access to risk.
In the Pacific, the MGA model has gained traction as carriers and reinsurers look for partners able to underwrite niche classes without the cost of building dedicated teams. That has opened space for brokers such as Gallagher Re to position themselves as intermediaries between MGAs and reinsurance capital providers.
Hails' career has run through that intersection. His time at Willis Re and Lockton placed him close to both the reinsurance broking community and the MGA ecosystem in Australia and the wider Pacific, which Gallagher Re is now banking on as it scales its APAC platform.
The broker said the expanded role positions Hails to identify growth opportunities across APAC as MGAs continue to draw interest from reinsurance capital providers seeking access to specialty and program business.
