BlackRock names new insto lead

After nearly 20 years, Tim O'Sullivan, BlackRock's head of institutional client business, has decided to retire to pursue a family-founded startup venture.

As of September, O'Sullivan will leave the financial services industry entirely, as the family business operates within the health sector.

He will be succeeded by Jonathan Jenkins, who joined BlackRock over two years ago and currently manages the client business in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia.

Jenkins brings over 25 years' of experience to the role.

Most recently, he spent 16 years at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong and Singapore as head of equity distribution and prime sales for Asia Pacific.

In this role, he was responsible for the business' client strategy and managed corporate access for Credit Suisse in Asia Pacific, delivering the firm's corporate interactions program.

Before that, he spent 10 years at J.P. Morgan in equity sales.

For his part, O'Sullivan came aboard the world's biggest asset manager when it merged with Barclays Global Investors in 2009.

At Barclays, he managed relationships with asset consultants and intermediary research firms, as well as client relationship management and new business development.

Before that, he spent five years at BT Financial Group in client service and business development within the institutional team.

He began his career at Rothschild Asset Management, working with a diverse range of clients including industry funds, government entities, corporate funds, charities, and insurance companies.

Meanwhile, BlackRock's overall operations in Australia will continue to be overseen by country head Jason Collins.