The Most Powerful Business Leaders in Arizona for 2025 includes Phil Gallagher, CEO of Avnet. Meet him here.

Phil Gallagher, CEO, Avnet

Background: A 40-plus Avnet veteran with a passion for serving customers, Gallagher was named CEO of Avnet in November 2020. Previously, he served as global president of Electronic Components, where he was responsible for leading the company’s massive broadline components distribution business worldwide. He recently was awarded the AccountabillT Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Commerce Authority. He also received the Lee T. Hanley Community Leadership Award from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Essential leadership qualities: “The most important qualities in a leader today are empathy, humility and self awareness. I have seen infinitely more careers end because of bad attitudes, negativity and just overall poor ability to work with others than actual business mistakes or lack of intelligence. These qualities reflect a higher level of emotional intelligence (EQ), which today is essential to any leader’s success.”

Leadership style: “I just believe in people. I want my team to walk into my office with good news—and run in with bad news. We’re all going to make mistakes and it’s OK to say, ‘I messed this up.’ As a leader, it’s also important to say, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ and actually listen to the answers. The further up you go, the more you tend to think you know everything. In reality, you need to trust your team to know more than you do.”

Defining moment: “Early in my career in sales, when I was around 22 years old, I was working to get in with a customer in Philadelphia. I tried for months but never got past the receptionist, whose name was Yvonne. I made a point to get to know her and learned she had some grandkids, so since I couldn’t get in to the decision maker, I gave her some of our marketing giveaways for them. One day she told me to come with her, then walked me into her boss’ office. She introduced me and insisted that he meet with me because I was nice to her.  I ultimately earned their business, and we ended up becoming their top supplier within 18 months. More importantly I learned a lesson that’s been foundational to my career: be kind to others. People watch you more than they listen to you, and you always need to understand where the influencers are—it’s usually not the boss.”