Grahame Chilton on life at Gallagher - people, deals, integration and the future

As revealed today by Insurance Age, Grahame Chilton, head of Gallagher’s UK-based brokerage and underwriting division, will be leaving his role as chief executive officer with Simon Matson taking on the post.

When Chilton stepped in to replace David Ross in February 2015 he said he was “rather humbled to be asked to do the role” and was happy to help out a partner in need. 

During his time with the business he is widely seen as having brought stability to the firm which along with losing its management team also faced integration challenges after a buying spree that included the likes of Giles and Oval.

Speaking after the latest news he told Insurance Age that at the start he found a business with potential but one that “was unintegrated and to a certain extent had rather lost its way”.

Upon joining, he immediately opened a 90 day review to understand the business, secure it against any immediate risks, and then plan to build for the future.

We have got the best organic growth, we are hiring many talented individuals

How does he feel it went?

“What I am delighted about is that in the three years working with some fantastic colleagues we have put together and developed a business which is the envy of the industry,” he summed up.

“We have got the best organic growth, we are hiring many talented individuals.”

Integration was at the heart of it all and Chilton admitted that with his team there have been a lot of hard yards on an enormous body of work with more than 250 elements of the business requiring change.

According to Chilton, Pat Gallagher described the integration as the largest the company had faced in its 90 years.

“We had in excess of 100 companies that had not been integrated or rolled up.

“The systems had not been connected and were running to different standards and styles.

“I’ve always believed you need a well-run and organised business to make it grow.”

In particular he argued that the firm had avoided “dumbing down” during the process, something he said he had seen elsewhere in broking.

“We believe that customers in this world of ever-changing risk want expertise and that seems to have paid dividends with the growth and profile we have of the business.”