About

Managing a team of 20, comprised of lawyers and analysts, at Pacific Exploration and Production Company, the Canadian crude oil and gas exploration and production company, Michael Galego strives to proactively add value to his organisation by bringing as much work in-house as possible. In his role as deputy general counsel, apart from providing legal advice to the various business elements of Pacific, Galego also assists with corporate governance and executive compensation and serves as secretary to a number of boards. Most recently, Galego impressed by overseeing the legal aspects of the potential sale of Pacific to a large Mexican company in a transaction that would have amounted to $7bn, with the transaction ultimately being rejected by shareholders in July 2015. As Pacific’s strategic vision over the past few years has involved growing the exploration and production portfolio by acquiring new assets primarily in Latin America, upon joining the company in 2010, Galego was instantly presented with the challenge of having to learn Spanish and undertake extensive travel in Latin America. However, Galego explains that he enjoyed this challenge and opportunity: ‘As a North American trained lawyer, dealing with emerging markets posed certain expectations that were new to me, yet I also had to really refine my cultural antenna, because it is very different to working in Toronto. I think that was the biggest hurdle in my career, but also a great opportunity to broaden my horizons’. As well as his role at Pacific, Galego also serves as general counsel at CGX Energy, a small Canadian oil and gas exploration company and serves on the board of the directors at Woulfe Mining, a company operating a mine out of South Korea that is in the process of being sold to another producer. Prior to joining Pacific, Galego spent five years at the leading Ontario based law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt.