Michael Rea

Michael is the CEO of Gallagher’s UK broking business*. Appointed to this role in January 2024, Michael leads Gallagher’s 6,000-strong team of colleagues in its UK and Ireland based Retail, Specialty and Pen Underwriting divisions.

Prior to this Michael was CEO of UK Retail at Gallagher for almost eight years. During his tenure, Michael oversaw a period of sustained organic growth and ongoing expansion through strategic M&A activity for the division, which is now one of the UK’s largest retail insurance broking businesses. Michael joined Gallagher in September 2015 initially as Chief Operating Officer of Gallagher’s International broking division.

Michael has almost 30 years’ experience in the UK insurance sector, following a career initially as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in Dublin. Having held a number of corporate finance and finance director roles with insurers, he moved into his first business leadership role at NIG, part of RBS Insurance, where he was Chief Operating Officer and then Managing Director. There then followed seven years in insurance broking as the chief executive of two of the top 25 broking businesses in the UK, before his move to Gallagher in 2015. Michael has a wealth of experience in acquiring and integrating businesses, large scale leadership and driving effective change through organisations.

* subject to FCA approval.