Pinnacle Life Chairman, Jack Porus says Ms van Gaalen’s appointment ensures the company is well positioned to grow its presence in the New Zealand market. "Michelle is an ideal fit with Pinnacle Life’s culture and history of disrupting the New Zealand insurance industry. She brings incredible skills and energy that will further strengthen our business, and long term aspirations for our broker channels and innovative online sales platform. “She has deep knowledge of the financial services industry and impressive breadth of experience leading operations and managing brands in a variety of service categories, marketing channels and geographies," he said.
Ms van Gaalen was most recently a member of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) executive team where she held the role of Director, Strategy and Business Performance. Before joining BNZ she was Group Manager Retail at NZ Post Ltd, and ran her own consulting company. Prior to joining NZ Post in 2006, Ms van Gaalen was General Manager Marketing & Products at Westpac NZ from 2003. In addition to her experience in the banking industry she has worked as a consultant both in the UK and New Zealand across various consumer service industries. She is also a director of the NZ Government Superannuation Fund Authority. Ms van Gaalen holds a BBS from Massey University.
