Naomi Ballantyne ONZM's credentials are specific in a way that most business biographies are not - and specificity is the point. She is the only woman globally to have founded and scaled the three largest competing companies within a single life insurance market. She is the first female founder in New Zealand to have sold a start-up business for over $1 billion. These are not claims that require qualification. They are facts that define a category.

Over four decades in New Zealand's life insurance industry, Naomi built businesses at a scale and with a commercial rigour that permanently reshaped the market. As Founder and Managing Director of Partners Life from 2010 through to her retirement in March 2024, she created an organisation that generated significant shareholder value, opened commercial opportunities for thousands of businesses, and provided financial support to hundreds of thousands of clients during critical moments.

Her contribution has been formally recognised through an appointment as Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2017, induction into the Company of Women Female Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame, the ANZIIF Lifetime Achievement Award, the Financial Services Council of New Zealand Chairman's Award, and inclusion in the Forbes 50 Over 50 Asia Female Entrepreneurs list.

Since stepping down from Partners Life, she has entered a new phase focused on governance, global strategy consulting, entrepreneurial mentoring and public speaking.