Gallagher announced three executive leaders to Gallagher's Benefits & HR Consulting Division in the UK: Lee Cook, Managing Director of Pensions Administration Services; John Deacon, Head of Corporate Consulting, Employee Benefits and Vishal Makkar, Managing Director, UK Wealth Consulting. All three leaders came to Gallagher through its acquisition of Buck in 2023. Lee Cook, previously head of Pensions Administration at Buck, brings with him 32 years of experience in the pensions sector.

He has developed in-depth specialist expertise across several different practices, including corporate pensions, employee benefits, software development, strategy, and administration. As Managing Director, Pension Administration Services, Cook will focus on strategy, financial performance, and continued growth as he leads his team to deliver outsourcing services for over 170 pension schemes and 430,000 members. John Deacon, previously Head of Employee Benefits at Buck, will transition into a new position as Head of Corporate Consulting, Employee Benefits.

The Corporate Consulting team forms part of the wider UK Employee Benefits business, led by Steve Threader, Managing Director, which also includes the Small to Medium Enterprise and Specialist Markets teams. Deacon brings over 30 years of financial services experience. He has an assured grasp of technology and its increasing role in delivering complex benefit programmes on both a national and global level. He will direct a team of consultants to provide solutions in group risk, healthcare, workplace savings, and client technology to UK corporations and will drive the growth of the firm?s offering in the employee benefits and HR sector.

Previously Head of Retirement Consulting at Buck, Vishal Makkar is a qualified actuary with over 20 years of experience and serves as a member of the Main Committee of the Association of Consulting Actuaries. In his role as Managing Director, UK Wealth Consulting, Makkar will offer strategic direction for the DB pensions consulting business as well as having operational oversight of Gallagher?s actuarial, investment, and secretarial consulting teams. He will provide trustees and sponsors of UK pension schemes with sharp and pragmatic guidance to secure their members? benefits.

Makkar will also continue to serve as a dedicated scheme actuary for high-profile clients. Cook, Deacon and Makkar will draw upon a wealth of knowledge to grow the business?s presence in all three of these core areas. The news follows the transition of David Piltz from UK Managing Director at Buck to CEO at Gallagher?s UK Benefits & HR Consulting Division last year, and the recent appointment of Alistair Dornan as Chief Revenue Officer, both reflective of the company?s solid growth trajectory in the UK.