After this internship ends, my immediate future will be spent on the beach.  After a week of rest and relaxation I will be coming back to LA where the start of water polo and classes await me.

My time here has exposed me to a wonderful office and a fun industry.  I have liked working here a great deal and have learned more then I could have ever imagined.   This school year will have some hard but exciting classes and will also offer the flexibility to take classes I want to take.   It will be my last water polo season playing at the collegiate level which is equally hard to believe.  Having to work full-time has really prodded me to make sure I enjoy my last year in school and I really look forward to it.  But it is equally satisfying to know that I found a great place to work while interning this summer.

-Greg in LA

Being a “trusted advisor” is something you hear thrown around here at Gallagher.  I heard the term while in Itasca and I have heard it from a few consultants in my office.  At first, I was a little skeptical.  “Trusted advisor,” really?  But, as I start my 5^th week here, I am starting to realize that is what our job is all about.  Our clients turn to us because they are in need of answers.  Not only are they in need of answers about their benefits, etc. but they can come to us for other general questions—and with health care reform there will be no shortage of questions.  Being there for our clients is a critical part of the job for our consultants.

I have started to learn a little bit about what it means to be a consultant at Gallagher, as I have expressed above, and I am also trying to learn what it takes to be a consultant.  From talking to the consultants here in Los Angeles and watching them in action I think the three most important things are; relationships, trust, and providing sound advice.  Of these three things I think the combination of trust and relationships is the most challenging.   Trust is a hard thing to build and once lost can be near impossible to get back.  Managing relationships and then leveraging them would also be a challenging part of the job as a consultant.

-Greg in LA

We are just finishing up our fourth week of the internship and it feels like we just got here.  Last week we were in Itasca visiting Gallagher’s national office.

While in Itasca, our days were packed with things to do.   My most enjoyable experience was getting to listen to Pat Gallagher and other leaders of the company talk to us not only about what Gallagher values, but also the future direction of the company.  Specifically, I was interested to hear about Gallagher Benefit Services‘ (GBS) role in the growth of the company as a whole and how GBS is shifting to meet the changing needs of our clients.  It was great to meet the Denver guys and all the other interns from across the country.   I look forward to staying in touch with everybody.

I’m in agreement with Todd about getting to see more of Chicago.  Overall though, it was a great time.

-Greg  from LA

Hi Everyone, my name is Greg and I am a Los Angeles GBS intern for the summer of 2010.  I will be a senior in the fall at Occidental College where I am majoring in Economics with an emphasis in Business and Management in addition to pursuing a politics minor.   I am currently residing in sunny Los Angeles where I attend school.   However, I was born and raised in Philadelphia and love everything about the city (including its sports).  I recently returned from a semester studying abroad in Ghana and am excited to being working for GBS this summer.

-Greg in Los Angeles