Here’s something you may not know about us at Pinnacle Life. We are a female dominant company. This is pretty unusual for a finance company, which is traditionally a male dominated industry. Although interestingly, life insurance seems to be an area where women CEOs and executives are pretty common (Naomi Ballytine at PartnersLife, Natalie Cameron at AIA till just recently, and Larrisa Vaughan Head of Insurance at Kiwibank.
We have a female CEO and have done for nearly 4 years, first Michelle van Gaalen and now Gillian Vaughan. Our management team is also predominantly female.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons we are passionate about women and insurance in New Zealand. It’s our friends, our sisters, our children, our nieces and our nephews and other people we see every day in our communities that we worry about. We see how much insurance can help when the unexpected happens and it breaks our heart when families aren’t prepared.
Unfortunately, many women in NZ are under-insured. We know that most household financial decisions are made by women, we pay the bills, and do the shopping, keep an eye on what’s going in and out. But, we have to be reminded that because we are often the main care-giver, and not the primary income earner, that we need insurance too. That way, even if the worst were to happen, our families would have the lives we want for them.
Pinnacle Life will continue to challenge other women to think about their financial security and make plans for their families, because it’s personal for us. We’re women too.*
We are proud to celebrate women’s suffrage in New Zealand. How amazing it must have been that day, 125 years ago for the women who had been fighting for women’s rights to vote for so long. May NZ continue to be a place where we fight for equality for everyone, always.
*We do have blokes as well! They have wives and children too so they agree with us on this one.
