Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) is a US-based global insurance brokerage and risk management services firm headquartered at the Gallagher Centre in Itasca, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). The firm was established in 1927 and is the third largest insurance broker in the world.

History

The company dates back to 1927 when Arthur James Gallagher started a brokerage firm in Illinois. The end of World War II brought his three sons, John, Jim, and Bob, into the business. The company incorporated in 1950 when revenues were $175,000. In 1957, the firm reached a high point of its history thus far, winning Beatrice Foods Company as a client, usurping the nation's largest brokerage.

Despite the stiff competition in a crowded domestic market that put steady downward pressure on property and casualty premiums during the 1990s and dating back to the late 1980s., the firm was still able to record double-digit growth in all but three years from 1990 through 2000, according to Investor's Business Daily.