UK retail boss Jeremy Roberts (pictured) is bowing out from Blackrock as the distribution team loses another senior figure.
Roberts, who is also a managing director at the asset manager, will be putting his career on pause to spend more time with his family.
He will be replaced by the current head of the UK retail sales team Nick Hutton. The 15-year Blackrock veteran will assume Roberts’ responsibilities under a new role as head of UK wealth.
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands notes there has been “a fair bit of change” among Blackrock’s senior distribution team with head of EMEA retail Alex Hoctor-Duncan departing in 2017 and Tony Stenning, head of retirement, leaving in 2016.
Roberts had spent 20 years at the firm in various guises, leading the UK sales team for seven years before heading up the retail business proper.
Most recently he was responsible for distribution to UK retail investors, including intermediary clients, advisers, discretionary clients, life companies and platforms.
He began his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1999, providing UK retail sales support, and stayed on board as it was acquired by Merrill Lynch and rebranded, spending four years as vice president of the London discretionary sales group. Merrill Lynch Investment Managers was acquired by Blackrock in 2006.
He is a founding ambassador of the Cascaid initiative which has raised over £2.5m for charity.
