About Brian Gallagher
With over 20 years in leadership and management with a variety of non-profit organizations, Brian Gallagher is a seasoned executive leader, coach, and consultant focused on organizational and leadership transitions. His work experience includes organizational development, fundraising, program management, strategic planning, marketing and communications, and leading cross-functional teams to ensure success and achieve organizational mission and goals.
Brian brings a collaborative, team-centered, and inquiry-based approach to leadership roles, including recent engagements as the Interim Executive Director for the Aquidneck Land Trust in Middletown, RI and the Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY. For eight years prior, he served as the CEO of Reach Out and Read, a national organization that promotes literacy through pediatric care. Before leading the organization, he oversaw its national network of sites, affiliates, and pediatricians. Brian also held several roles at the Boston Private Industry Council, a workforce development agency.
Brian has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Suffolk University and a BA from Hamilton College. He has participated in Harvard Business School’s Executive Education, Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. He also teaches Nonprofit Management and Organizational Change in Suffolk University’s Certificate in Nonprofit Human Services Management program. Brian is in the process of acquiring the ACC (Associate Certified Coach) accreditation from the International Coaching Federation.
Lifting up Talent. Aligning around a Common Vision.
As Interim Executive Director, Brian focuses on a multitude of issues, assesses current organizational operations, develops short- and long-term recommendations, and gets to work to ensure objectives are met. Priorities often include team development, fundraising effectiveness, board governance, strategic communications, and operational systems and processes. Brian has a strong track record with succession planning, with organizations recruiting, hiring, and successfully onboarding, strong, accomplished, and effective successors.
Brian first stepped into the Acting Executive Director role at Reach Out and Read during a period of significant transition and uncertainty, bringing about much needed stability and focus, then establishing a clear vision for the organization. As CEO, Brian attracted top talent and increased staff retention, increased fundraising across all categories, developed new technology systems that increased productivity and efficiency, and aligned the organization around a common purpose. Over the course of his tenure, Reach Out and Read more than doubled the number of children and families served, and the program is now viewed as a standard of care for pediatric clinicians across the US.
