Tom Paleka joined Gallagher in September 2008 as Vice President of Global Compensation, a newly created role. Promoted in 2016 to lead the global rewards function, he has overall responsibility for guiding the company’s equity, compensation, benefit, mobility and payroll organizations. In 2018, he was named an officer of the company. 

Prior to Gallagher, Tom had twenty years of extensive background in human resources, sales compensation, sales management, and sales operations, with such companies as AT&T, Ameritech, and Tellabs. 

Tom has served on the Global Equity Organization (GEO) Board of Directors since 2017, and was voted Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2024. He has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2022 and served as Judge for the GEO Awards for ten years, eight years as Lead Judge. He previously served as Chair of the Issuer Advisory Council for six years. He also has been an active member of the Fidelity Stock Plan Services Client Advisory Board. He has spoken at conferences for such organizations as GEO, NASPP, IBIS, CEPI, Equilar, World at Work, and the Conference Board. Tom has also been involved with Junior Achievement for 42 years, and has served on the Junior Achievement DuPage County Board of Directors for over 20 years.