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. He has been instrumental in designing the company’s short and long-term incentive plans, including securing shareholder approval of five equity plans. Other accomplishments include building a global team to centralize support of Total Rewards, automating many compensation and payroll processes, driving a global benefit philosophy, and integrating many acquisitions into Gallagher from a rewards and equity perspective.

Tom joined Gallagher from Tellabs, a telecommunications infrastructure manufacturer. As Director of Global Compensation and Benefits, he was responsible for all broad-based and executive programs. Prior to Tellabs, he had twenty years of extensive background in the telecommunications industry in sales compensation, direct sales, sales management, and sales operations. Tom has served on the GEO Board of Directors since 2017, and serves as Secretary of the Executive Committee, Chair of the Issuer Advisory Council, and as Lead Judge for the GEO Awards. 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, Ayco, NASPP, CEPI, Equilar, World at Work, and the Conference Board. Tom has also been involved with Junior Achievement for nearly 40 years, and has served on the Junior Achievement DuPage County Board of Directors for nearly 20 years.