GBS IMO, Portfolio Manager

Arthur J. Gallagher · Rolling Meadows

Introduction

At Gallagher Benefit Services, you’re a trusted partner to organizations navigating some of their most important people decisions. We help clients build better workplaces, where people feel supported, empowered, and inspired to thrive. Whether it’s shaping benefit strategies, designing wellbeing programs, or advising on workforce challenges, the work you do here creates meaningful change for businesses and the people who power them. We’re a community of bold explorers, trusted experts, and compassionate partners; working side by side to solve problems, and shape the future of work. Here, curiosity is encouraged, collaboration is second nature, and your ideas have room to grow. If you’re looking for a place where your contribution matters and where you can help build a better world of work; think of Gallagher.

Overview

The Integration Management Office (IMO) Portfolio Manager is responsible for leading the governance, operational effectiveness, and continuous improvement of the organization's merger and acquisition integration portfolio. This role provides leadership and oversight for Program Managers and IMO support staff while ensuring integration activities are executed within a consistent governance framework.

The Portfolio Manager serves as the primary steward of IMO governance, providing executive visibility into integration performance, risks, changes, resource capacity, dependencies, and strategic alignment across the portfolio. Working closely with IMO leadership, Program Managers, functional leaders, and executive stakeholders, this role helps ensure the organization is positioned to successfully execute all acquisition integrations, while continuously improving the effectiveness, scalability, and maturity of the IMO.

In addition to governing the integration portfolio, the Portfolio Manager is responsible for developing team capabilities, driving process improvements, implementing supporting technologies, maintaining integration methodologies and standards, monitoring compliance with established governance processes, and leading internal strategic initiatives that enhance the IMO's ability to support a growing acquisition pipeline.

While acquisition integrations represent mandatory work driven by completed transactions, the Portfolio Manager helps leadership balance integration demand with available capacity and determines when discretionary strategic initiatives, process improvements, technology implementations, and operational enhancements can be successfully executed without impacting integration delivery.

How you'll make an impact

People Leadership & Team Development

Lead, coach, mentor, and develop Program Managers and IMO support staff.
Establish performance expectations, development plans, and career growth opportunities for team members.
Provide leadership and guidance on integration management methodologies, governance processes, stakeholder management, and professional development.
Support workforce planning, staffing decisions, onboarding, succession planning, and talent development within the IMO.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Ensure the IMO team has the skills, tools, resources, and capabilities required to support a growing integration portfolio.
Conduct performance management activities and support employee engagement initiatives.

Portfolio Governance, Capacity Planning & Risk Management

Serve as the owner of the IMO governance framework, ensuring integration activities are executed in accordance with established methodologies, standards, and organizational objectives.
Establish and maintain governance processes, decision-making structures, escalation paths, stage gates, reporting standards, and approval workflows.
Facilitate governance reviews, portfolio assessments, executive steering committees, and leadership decision-making forums.
Drive consistency in integration planning, reporting, performance measurement, risk management, and governance compliance across the portfolio.
Monitor acquisition integration demand, portfolio workload, resource availability, and organizational capacity across active and anticipated transactions.
Partner with leadership to balance mandatory integration work with discretionary strategic initiatives, continuous improvement efforts, and operational enhancement projects.
Evaluate proposed internal improvement initiatives against organizational priorities, resource capacity, expected benefits, and portfolio demand.
Recommend timing, sequencing, staffing approaches, and resource allocation strategies to optimize portfolio performance and organizational effectiveness.
Maintain oversight of portfolio-level risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies across active integrations and strategic initiatives.
Identify systemic risks, recurring challenges, organizational constraints, and cross-functional dependencies that may impact portfolio performance.
Ensure appropriate escalation, mitigation, and resolution of critical risks and governance-related issues.
Provide change rigor and leadership across the portfolio, ensuring impacted stakeholders are informed of schedule, scope, cost, and resource change impacts and engaged in decision-making.
Assess the impact of resource constraints, competing priorities, and organizational readiness on integration outcomes.
Provide leadership with visibility into portfolio performance, capacity utilization, risks, dependencies, and recommended actions.
Support long-range planning for anticipated acquisition activity, resource requirements, and future IMO capacity needs.
Evaluate governance effectiveness and recommend improvements that strengthen accountability, transparency, decision-making, operational maturity, and overall portfolio performance.
Build trusted relationships with executive sponsors, functional leaders, business stakeholders, and integration teams to drive alignment, resolve barriers, and support informed decision-making.

Executive Reporting, Portfolio Visibility & Analytics

Provide executive leadership and direction for the IMO reporting, analytics, and portfolio visibility functions.
Lead and develop team members responsible for portfolio reporting, dashboard administration, portfolio analytics, data management, and governance support activities.
Establish portfolio reporting standards, performance metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), governance requirements, and visibility expectations across the IMO.
Ensure executive dashboards, scorecards, status reports, governance materials, and portfolio analytics are produced accurately, consistently, and in accordance with established standards.
Oversee the consolidation of information from Program Managers, functional stakeholders, and integration teams into portfolio-level insights, metrics, trends, and recommendations.
Ensure leadership receives timely visibility into integration status, milestones, risks, resource utilization, dependencies, portfolio performance, governance compliance, and organizational capacity.
Support executive governance bodies, steering committees, and leadership teams through data-driven reporting, portfolio analysis, and strategic insights.
Facilitate informed decision-making by ensuring reporting outputs are accurate, actionable, and aligned with business objectives.
Monitor portfolio health, emerging trends, organizational risks, resource demands, governance effectiveness, and performance indicators to support executive planning and decision-making.
Measure and evaluate the effectiveness, adoption, and maturity of IMO governance processes, methodologies, standards, and technology solutions.
Support benefits realization tracking, portfolio performance assessments, and governance maturity evaluations.
Conduct portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, operational excellence, and enhanced governance effectiveness.
Establish and continuously improve reporting frameworks, analytics capabilities, and performance measurement processes that support transparency, accountability, and effective portfolio governance.
Ensure portfolio reporting tools, dashboards, analytics platforms, and data management processes remain aligned with evolving organizational needs and governance requirements.
Evaluate portfolio performance metrics, organizational capacity indicators, and governance maturity measures to support strategic planning and continuous improvement initiatives.

IMO Governance, Standards & Continuous Improvement

Lead strategic initiatives designed to improve the effectiveness, maturity, scalability, and operational excellence of the Integration Management Office.
Develop, implement, and maintain IMO governance standards, methodologies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), templates, playbooks, and operating models.
Lead change management and adoption efforts for new IMO processes, tools, governance standards, and operating model enhancements.
Evaluate, select, implement, and enhance technologies, tools, and reporting solutions that improve portfolio visibility, governance effectiveness, and integration execution.
Lead the rollout, adoption, and continuous improvement of project management, portfolio management, reporting, and collaboration platforms.
Sponsor and oversee internal IMO improvement projects, including process redesign, reporting automation, governance enhancements, and operational excellence initiatives.
Establish processes for monitoring compliance with IMO standards, governance requirements, and operating procedures.
Conduct periodic reviews and audits to assess adherence to established methodologies, documentation standards, reporting requirements, governance controls, and SOPs.
Monitor and report on compliance metrics, process adoption, and governance effectiveness.
Lead corrective action planning and process improvements when gaps or compliance issues are identified.
Develop and maintain governance documentation, process maps, training materials, and knowledge management resources.
Capture lessons learned and best practices across completed integrations and strategic initiatives.
Provide training, guidance, and support to Program Managers and stakeholders on IMO processes, governance standards, methodologies, and tools.

About You

Required:

Typically requires a University Degree or equivalent experience and minimum 6 years prior relevant experience.
Understands basic management approaches such as work scheduling, prioritizing, coaching and process execution.
Typically requires substantial knowledge of job area typically obtained through advanced education combined with experience.

Preferred Experience:

Extensive experience in portfolio management, PMO/IMO leadership, governance, project management, program management, business operations, or merger and acquisition integration management.
Extensive experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, and enterprise integration programs.
Demonstrated experience leading teams and developing project, program, or portfolio management professionals.
Experience building, managing, or enhancing PMO or IMO governance frameworks.
Strong understanding of governance frameworks, resource planning, process improvement, organizational effectiveness, risk management, and executive reporting.
Experience developing and implementing governance processes, reporting structures, methodologies, operating procedures, and performance measurement programs.
Demonstrated experience leading organizational improvement initiatives, operational transformation efforts, PMO/IMO maturity initiatives, or strategic business process improvement efforts.
Experience implementing and supporting project management, portfolio management, workflow automation, reporting, collaboration, or governance technologies.
Strong analytical, leadership, communication, facilitation, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to manage competing priorities and operate effectively in a fast-paced environment.
Strong business and financial acumen

Certifications:

PMP®, PgMP®, PfMP®, Lean, Six Sigma, Prosci®, or a comparable project management, portfolio management, process improvement, organizational change, or governance certification.

Desirable:

Experience within insurance brokerage, employee benefits, financial services, professional services, or other acquisitive organizations.
Experience supporting large-scale organizational transformation, post-merger integration, or enterprise change initiatives.
Experience leading technology-enabled process improvement or operational excellence programs.
Advanced knowledge of portfolio analytics, reporting frameworks, governance models, and organizational performance measurement.

Work Environment:

This position may require occasional travel to various company locations.
The role may involve working outside of regular business hours to meet deadlines.
The position works closely with executives, functional leaders, Program Managers, merger partners, and governance stakeholders across multiple integration initiatives and strategic improvement efforts.

#LI-PF1

#Hybrid

Compensation and benefits

At Gallagher, we believe supporting our colleagues goes far beyond the role itself. For more information, visit our Benefits page.

Competitive compensation
Comprehensive benefits programs designed to support your well-being
Career development opportunities and ongoing learning
A collaborative, people-first culture with accessible leadership
The opportunity to do meaningful work with global reach and local impact

At Gallagher, we are dedicated to building an inclusive and authentic workplace. If your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to join our Talent Community to stay connected to additional career opportunities. At times, we will consider transferable skills from previous roles.

Gallagher is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer (Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabled)

People Leadership & Team Development

Lead, coach, mentor, and develop Program Managers and IMO support staff.
Establish performance expectations, development plans, and career growth opportunities for team members.
Provide leadership and guidance on integration management methodologies, governance processes, stakeholder management, and professional development.
Support workforce planning, staffing decisions, onboarding, succession planning, and talent development within the IMO.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Ensure the IMO team has the skills, tools, resources, and capabilities required to support a growing integration portfolio.
Conduct performance management activities and support employee engagement initiatives.

Portfolio Governance, Capacity Planning & Risk Management

Serve as the owner of the IMO governance framework, ensuring integration activities are executed in accordance with established methodologies, standards, and organizational objectives.
Establish and maintain governance processes, decision-making structures, escalation paths, stage gates, reporting standards, and approval workflows.
Facilitate governance reviews, portfolio assessments, executive steering committees, and leadership decision-making forums.
Drive consistency in integration planning, reporting, performance measurement, risk management, and governance compliance across the portfolio.
Monitor acquisition integration demand, portfolio workload, resource availability, and organizational capacity across active and anticipated transactions.
Partner with leadership to balance mandatory integration work with discretionary strategic initiatives, continuous improvement efforts, and operational enhancement projects.
Evaluate proposed internal improvement initiatives against organizational priorities, resource capacity, expected benefits, and portfolio demand.
Recommend timing, sequencing, staffing approaches, and resource allocation strategies to optimize portfolio performance and organizational effectiveness.
Maintain oversight of portfolio-level risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies across active integrations and strategic initiatives.
Identify systemic risks, recurring challenges, organizational constraints, and cross-functional dependencies that may impact portfolio performance.
Ensure appropriate escalation, mitigation, and resolution of critical risks and governance-related issues.
Provide change rigor and leadership across the portfolio, ensuring impacted stakeholders are informed of schedule, scope, cost, and resource change impacts and engaged in decision-making.
Assess the impact of resource constraints, competing priorities, and organizational readiness on integration outcomes.
Provide leadership with visibility into portfolio performance, capacity utilization, risks, dependencies, and recommended actions.
Support long-range planning for anticipated acquisition activity, resource requirements, and future IMO capacity needs.
Evaluate governance effectiveness and recommend improvements that strengthen accountability, transparency, decision-making, operational maturity, and overall portfolio performance.
Build trusted relationships with executive sponsors, functional leaders, business stakeholders, and integration teams to drive alignment, resolve barriers, and support informed decision-making.

Executive Reporting, Portfolio Visibility & Analytics

Provide executive leadership and direction for the IMO reporting, analytics, and portfolio visibility functions.
Lead and develop team members responsible for portfolio reporting, dashboard administration, portfolio analytics, data management, and governance support activities.
Establish portfolio reporting standards, performance metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), governance requirements, and visibility expectations across the IMO.
Ensure executive dashboards, scorecards, status reports, governance materials, and portfolio analytics are produced accurately, consistently, and in accordance with established standards.
Oversee the consolidation of information from Program Managers, functional stakeholders, and integration teams into portfolio-level insights, metrics, trends, and recommendations.
Ensure leadership receives timely visibility into integration status, milestones, risks, resource utilization, dependencies, portfolio performance, governance compliance, and organizational capacity.
Support executive governance bodies, steering committees, and leadership teams through data-driven reporting, portfolio analysis, and strategic insights.
Facilitate informed decision-making by ensuring reporting outputs are accurate, actionable, and aligned with business objectives.
Monitor portfolio health, emerging trends, organizational risks, resource demands, governance effectiveness, and performance indicators to support executive planning and decision-making.
Measure and evaluate the effectiveness, adoption, and maturity of IMO governance processes, methodologies, standards, and technology solutions.
Support benefits realization tracking, portfolio performance assessments, and governance maturity evaluations.
Conduct portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, operational excellence, and enhanced governance effectiveness.
Establish and continuously improve reporting frameworks, analytics capabilities, and performance measurement processes that support transparency, accountability, and effective portfolio governance.
Ensure portfolio reporting tools, dashboards, analytics platforms, and data management processes remain aligned with evolving organizational needs and governance requirements.
Evaluate portfolio performance metrics, organizational capacity indicators, and governance maturity measures to support strategic planning and continuous improvement initiatives.

IMO Governance, Standards & Continuous Improvement

Lead strategic initiatives designed to improve the effectiveness, maturity, scalability, and operational excellence of the Integration Management Office.
Develop, implement, and maintain IMO governance standards, methodologies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), templates, playbooks, and operating models.
Lead change management and adoption efforts for new IMO processes, tools, governance standards, and operating model enhancements.
Evaluate, select, implement, and enhance technologies, tools, and reporting solutions that improve portfolio visibility, governance effectiveness, and integration execution.
Lead the rollout, adoption, and continuous improvement of project management, portfolio management, reporting, and collaboration platforms.
Sponsor and oversee internal IMO improvement projects, including process redesign, reporting automation, governance enhancements, and operational excellence initiatives.
Establish processes for monitoring compliance with IMO standards, governance requirements, and operating procedures.
Conduct periodic reviews and audits to assess adherence to established methodologies, documentation standards, reporting requirements, governance controls, and SOPs.
Monitor and report on compliance metrics, process adoption, and governance effectiveness.
Lead corrective action planning and process improvements when gaps or compliance issues are identified.
Develop and maintain governance documentation, process maps, training materials, and knowledge management resources.
Capture lessons learned and best practices across completed integrations and strategic initiatives.
Provide training, guidance, and support to Program Managers and stakeholders on IMO processes, governance standards, methodologies, and tools.