Topic: Board of Trustees

January 6, 2017

Gov. Mike Pence this week appointed Brian Gallagher to the Ball State University Board of Trustees.

Gallagher, a 1981 alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in social work, is president and CEO of United Way Worldwide, the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit organization. He’s spent most of his career with United Way, and under Gallagher’s leadership, the organization began focusing its work on facilitating community change through partnerships and opportunities that are often unique to one particular city or region.

In 2009, Gallagher oversaw the merger of United Way of America and United Way International into United Way Worldwide. The now-combined 129-year-old organization has outreach efforts in place in nearly 1,800 communities worldwide. According to the organization, 10 million donors contribute $4.7 billion annually, while 3 million people around the globe volunteer with the group.

Gallagher earned his MBA from Emory University in 1992, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate in humanities from Ball State in 2003. He rose up the ranks at United Way, and in the early 2000s, as president of United Way, Ohio, he advocated for and helped create a new type of housing for homeless families that, in addition to providing places to live, offered residents help with unemployment challenges or addiction issues.

He currently serves on the boards of America’s Promise Alliance and Leadership 18. According to its website, Leadership 18 is “an alliance of CEOs” from charities, nonprofits and faith-based organizations that works to connect different resources within a region creating new partnerships focused on specific community-building goals.

Previously, Gallagher served as a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and is former chair of the Independent Sector, and he is a member emeritus of the Ball State University Foundation.

Gallagher is married to Ramona, and the couple has two daughters, Katie and Maggie.

His term runs through Dec. 31, 2020.