GBS IMO, Portfolio Manager

Gallagher•Rolling Meadows, IL

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Integration Management Office (IMO) Portfolio Manager leads governance, operational effectiveness, and continuous improvement across the organization’s merger and acquisition integration portfolio. The role provides leadership and oversight for Program Managers and IMO support staff, ensuring integration activities follow a consistent governance framework and align with organizational objectives. The Portfolio Manager serves as the primary steward of IMO governance and provides executive visibility into integration performance, risks, changes, resource capacity, dependencies, and strategic alignment. In partnership with IMO leadership, Program Managers, functional leaders, and executive stakeholders, the role supports successful execution of acquisition integrations while improving the IMO’s effectiveness, scalability, and maturity. The position develops team capabilities, improves processes, implements supporting technologies, maintains integration methodologies and standards, monitors governance compliance, and leads strategic initiatives that strengthen the IMO. It also helps leadership balance mandatory integration work with available capacity and determine when discretionary initiatives and operational enhancements can be undertaken without affecting integration delivery. The position may require occasional travel to company locations and work outside regular business hours to meet deadlines.

Requirements

Typically requires a university degree or equivalent experience and a minimum of 6 years of prior relevant experience.
Understands basic management approaches, including work scheduling, prioritizing, coaching, and process execution.
Typically requires substantial knowledge of the job area, generally obtained through advanced education combined with experience.
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.

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, mentor, and develop Program Managers and IMO support staff; establish performance expectations, development plans, and career growth opportunities.
Support IMO workforce planning, staffing, onboarding, succession planning, talent development, performance management, and employee engagement.
Own and maintain the IMO governance framework, including methodologies, standards, 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.
Monitor integration demand, portfolio workload, resource availability, and organizational capacity across active and anticipated transactions.
Partner with leadership to balance mandatory integration work against discretionary initiatives and recommend timing, sequencing, staffing, and resource allocation.
Oversee portfolio-level risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies; identify systemic challenges and ensure escalation, mitigation, and resolution of critical issues.
Lead change rigor across the portfolio and ensure stakeholders understand schedule, scope, cost, and resource impacts and participate in decisions.
Provide leadership with visibility into portfolio performance, capacity utilization, risks, dependencies, and recommended actions; support long-range capacity planning.
Build relationships with executive sponsors, functional leaders, business stakeholders, and integration teams to drive alignment and resolve barriers.
Lead IMO reporting, analytics, and portfolio visibility functions, including the development of staff responsible for reporting, dashboards, data management, and governance support.
Set reporting standards, KPIs, governance requirements, and visibility expectations; oversee accurate and consistent dashboards, scorecards, status reports, and portfolio analytics.
Consolidate information from Program Managers, functional stakeholders, and integration teams into portfolio-level insights, trends, metrics, and recommendations.
Support executive governance bodies and leadership teams with data-driven reporting, portfolio analysis, and strategic insights.
Monitor portfolio health, trends, risks, resource demands, governance effectiveness, and performance indicators; track benefits realization and assess portfolio performance and governance maturity.
Establish and improve reporting frameworks, analytics capabilities, performance measurement processes, tools, dashboards, and data management practices.
Lead strategic initiatives to improve IMO effectiveness, maturity, scalability, and operational excellence.
Develop, implement, and maintain IMO governance standards, methodologies, SOPs, templates, playbooks, and operating models.
Lead change management and adoption for new processes, tools, governance standards, and operating model enhancements.
Evaluate, select, implement, and enhance technologies and solutions for portfolio visibility, governance, integration execution, project and portfolio management, reporting, and collaboration.
Sponsor and oversee IMO improvement projects such as process redesign, reporting automation, governance enhancements, and operational excellence initiatives.
Monitor compliance with IMO standards, governance requirements, and procedures through periodic reviews and audits; report compliance metrics and lead corrective action and process improvement when gaps arise.
Maintain governance documentation, process maps, training materials, and knowledge resources; capture lessons learned and best practices.
Train and guide Program Managers and stakeholders on IMO processes, governance standards, methodologies, and tools.