Planning a temporary career break, the group’s head of retirement told Portfolio Adviser he had not taken any time off in a city career that spanned almost 25 years.
Stenning, who is also a managing director at BlackRock, said he was looking forward to considering his next move, which may or may not involve a next role in the asset management space.
Having joined BlackRock as part of Mercury Asset Management and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which merged in 2006, he has been responsible for driving firm’s vision and strategy in EMEA on individual retirement and leads its defined contribution business.
He was head of UK retail for six years, between 2009 and 2015, prior to which he was head of products and client strategies, from 2004. From 2000 to 2004 he was head of marketing and product for UK retail, and is understood to be pivotal in launching BlackRock’s UK absolute alpha strategy.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Stenning spent several years in private client fund management with a particular focus upon collective investment schemes.
He holds a degree in economics and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.
He said: “The firm have been brilliant about my decision, I will stay until the end of the year and then look forward to considering what I want to do next. I intend to take at least six months off and with lots of options, I want to take some time to choose my next move. I’ve never had a break and I feel very lucky to be in a position to be able to do so.”
