ASSOCIATE Magazine FBINAA Q3-2026

ASSOCIATION PERSPECTIVE

Jim Gallagher

E very leader carries someone with them into the room. For me, that person is my father, Jim Gallagher, Sr. , a career NYPD officer whose example shaped everything I understand about this profession. He never talked about policing in terms of arrests or statistics. He talked about it in terms of people — showing up for them, protecting them, and doing right by them, even when no one was watching. He had a phrase for it that has stayed with me my entire career: doing good with a capital G. Not good as a passing gesture, but Good as a discipline — a standard you hold yourself to on your best day and your hardest one. That's the compass I've tried to carry into every assignment, every promotion, and now into this role. It's in that spirit that I've come to understand what a rare privilege it is to be part of this Association. Graduating from the FBI National Academy remains one of the defining experiences of my professional life — not because of a diploma, but because of what it represents: a shared commitment among the top law enforcement leaders in the world to hold each other to some thing higher. Membership in the FBI National Academy Associ ates extends that experience into a lifelong network, one built on trust earned in the classrooms, hallways, trails and Boardrooms at Quantico and carried home to departments and communities around the world. Few professions offer anything like it, and I don't take my place in it lightly. As I step into this role, I want to be direct about where my focus will be. First, the wellness of our members — physical, mental, spiritual, and financial. Law enforcement asks enormous things of the people who serve in it, and this Association exists in part to make sure our members and their families have real support in return, not just in career, but in life. What’s most im portant to me is that we continue to message our members that wellness is fundamental to longevity and that seeking help is not a sign of weakness, but rather it is the ultimate sign of strength. We must affirm an environment in which we take care of one another holistically through the challenges that are so common in our profession. This has to be the norm and not the exception. Second, fostering growth and nurturing our Association. This Association stands to add up to 300 new members with each graduating class of the National Academy — four sessions a year — so that the strength of this network keeps expanding right along side the profession it serves. We must also prioritize the members we have, the ones who show up year after year to fulfill the pledge they made to the Association and each other to lead and to serve for as long as they are able. And for our friends who have lapsed or don’t feel the same connection they once did, we must bring them back to the world’s largest law enforcement network with the promise that what they have earned is theirs forever and that the value of our great Association resides within them. Leading with a Capital "G": A Conversation on Legacy, Service, and What Comes Next

Third, expanding our reach across the profession and to our partners around the world. We already stand as the largest law enforcement leadership network in the world, and I want us to lean fully into that identity — deepening our partnerships with international chapters and with allied law enforcement asso ciations across the globe, so that the knowledge and support we offer one another crosses every border our members serve. Leadership requires us to step to the front during times when clear direction and strong positions are required. Now is that time and we are those leaders. As the premier law enforcement training association in the world, our charge is to bring the Na tional Academy to the people and places who may not have had the opportunities we have had because who we are and what we offer makes cops better and communities safer. None of this happens by standing back. Leadership means stepping up, especially in moments that call for clarity and conviction rather than comfort. That's the standard my father set for me long before I ever wore a badge, and it's the standard I intend to hold for this Association in the year ahead —leading with purpose, serving the members who make this Association what it is and doing good with a capital G. Always.

Jim Gallagher 2026-2027 FBINAA President NA Session 245

4 FBINAA.ORG | Q3 2026