Partners Life Group Holdings has appointed Shelley Ruha as an independent director of Partners Life.
Ruha has extensive governance experience in financial services, fintech, technology infrastructure and payments innovation, and executive leadership experience at BNZ, where her roles included chief customer officer for BNZ Partners and Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking.
She has served as a trustee to non-profit entities in the education sector with a particular focus on Māori and Pasifika. Ruha currently holds independent directorships with Heartland Bank and 9 Spokes, and is independent chair of New Zealand Rural Land Management Limited.
“I am very pleased to join the board of Partners Life, an organisation which embodies a passion for innovation, problem solving and solutions thinking to get the best results for customers and the advisory sector," she says. "I admire Partners Life’s commitment to diversity and to fostering an internal culture where people thrive and results are sustainable. This is truly one of the great success stories in New Zealand business – by every measure of success, not just financial – and I look forward to applying my skills and experience to the growth of the organisation.”
Partners Life founder and managing director Naomi Ballantyne says; “We are privileged to welcome Shelley to our board. Shelley has a deep understanding of a great deal that is relevant to our business, including wealth management, fintech, large-scale technology infrastructure and growth and education of SMEs, and she is equally strong on the people side, with practical knowledge of how to balance the interests of staff, customers and suppliers in a fast-growing business and changing sector. I am really looking forward to working with Shelley, who brings an outstanding energy to the Partners Life governance team.”
