Diary of an Insurer: Gallagher’s Cheryl Phillips

Monday

I start the week in our Exeter office, which is not far from where I live and is one of our larger offices in the south west, with around 50 colleagues based in the city.

My first meeting of the week is with Caroline Poppleton, our sales enablement director, discussing how quickly we can roll out the Gallagher suite of digital sales tools to our new AssuredPartners colleagues that officially became part of Gallagher in August.

With the acquisition my role expanded to oversee Gallagher’s existing offices in the south west which are based in Exeter, Bristol, Swindon, Gloucester and our commercial operations in Wales, plus the new 12 offices which were part of AssuredPartners, so I am spending a lot of time getting to know the team and working out how we can integrate the businesses. 

Next up was a session on cyber and how we can make sure our team is having targeted conversations with clients – cyber attacks have never been so prevalent so it’s important we work with our clients to make sure they have the right cover in place, and there is still a big protection gap here.

The afternoon was spent with Constructing Excellence South West, which champions innovation and collaboration in the construction industry across our region. 

I represent Gallagher on the leadership council and during the afternoon where we reflected on 2025 and worked through the priorities for 2026. I also agreed that Gallagher will continue to sponsor the leadership dinners in 2026 and the awards, which take place in July 2026. 

Tuesday

Tuesday morning I had a catch-up with my new boss, Gary Fletcher, who is managing director of commercial, which specialises in supporting mid-market organisations through our UK wide office network. 

He has always been very supportive of me since I joined Gallagher in 2018 via the acquisition of Pavey, so its great to be working with him closely at what is an exciting time for Gallagher.

I then met my client service director for Exeter, Mike Rollason, to discuss the key client renewals coming up over the next three months to ensure we are helping our clients understand the risk landscape and what cover they need. 

Next up was a meeting with Ross Brown, our sales director, for an update on new business opportunities including a large local haulage firm and a number of manufacturing firms.

Later that day I headed to the Lord Taverners dinner at Sandy Park with regional law firm, Stephens Scown, which is the UK’s first large employee-owned law firm and a great business to work with.

Wednesday

My first activity of the day was to check in with the managing director of GM insurance, which become part of Gallagher with the AssuredPartners deal and a main point on the agenda was moving the team into our Exeter office which we are planning to do soon.

Next up was planning the next regional engagement event with colleagues which is taking place in January in Bath at which we are expecting around 100 people to come along to talk about the plans for 2026 and beyond. 

We are doing a series of these across the UK & Ireland, designed to help AssuredPartners colleagues understand Gallagher better and get to know local colleagues.

In the evening I headed over to Salisbury to have a festive dinner with the regional management team to chat over recent successes.

Thursday

Today I was up early to travel back to Exeter to give a presentation to Shirley Hawkins, one of our account handlers with some 40 years in the industry who was retiring. 

Shirley joined the business 12 years ago so I know her well and its fantastic to see her hang up her Gallagher boots and be able to enjoy more time with her grandchildren.

At lunchtime I headed out for a bite to eat with the managing director of Treveth, a local Cornish house builder and talked about all sorts of things – developments in Cornwall, recruitment, and a joint cyber event we are planning.

The last meeting of the day was with a new development executive. A big part of my role is bringing in new talent and whilst people are nervous of market conditions there are some good candidates around. It’s important to know the local market and make your business and the role appealing.

Friday

Friday is my day to work from home, catching up and also it gives me a chance to see my 16-year-old son Charlie head off to school and be home when he finishes. I also try to go to the gym on a Friday so aim to get up early and get a good workout in before the working day starts.

My meetings for the day kicked off with a catch up with our private clients team to discuss combining the AssuredPartners and existing Gallagher high net worth offering in the region. 

We have a substantial number of clients in this this space in the south west, which has grown in recent times so I wanted to get into more detail on what we are doing and what we can offer clients.

Friday being a bit of an admin day after a busy week, my task turned to forecasting for the coming year and giving some consideration to where we see growth opportunities which we discussed on our regular senior leadership team Friday call.

The end of the week arrived and it was time for the Exeter office Christmas party. So I headed into town and met with all my local colleagues for a festive celebration, leaving around 10pm after a busy week.