Australian investment manager Challenger is pushing through a succession plan as Dominic Stevens steps down after nine years at the helm.

The chief executive of Australian investment manager Challenger, Dominic Stevens, has resigned after nine years at the firm to take “a career sabbatical”.

Stevens will be replaced by current chief financial officer and group chief operating officer Brian Benari, who will succeed Stevens in February next year, according to a statement published by Challenger chairman Peter Polson. Prior to joining Challenger in 2003, Benari held senior executive roles with JP Morgan, Bankers Trust, Macquarie Bank and Zurich Capital Markets. 

Benari established and was founding CEO of Challenger’s mortgage management division. He helped grow its mortgage lending assets in excess of $23 billion, to become Australia’s largest independent mortgage lender and one of the largest issuers of residential mortgage backed Securities in Australia. The business was sold in 2009 to the National Australia Bank.

Under Challenger’s succession plan current deputy group CFO Andrew Tobin will be promoted to group CFO when Benari becomes CEO. Before joining the firm in 2007, Tobin was previously the general manager, finance, for the premium business services division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Prior to CBA, Tobin was the CFO of the Asian regional office of National Australia Bank’s Wealth Management division, based in Hong Kong.

Stevens, lauded for having turned the firm around through streamlining its businesses, will remain with Challenger until the end of the 2012 fiscal year, to ensure an orderly transition of responsibilities, said the firm.

“Dominic has made a long and distinguished contribution to Challenger and his foresight in recognising the retirement income opportunity and pivotal role of annuities has underpinned Challenger’s ongoing success. His decisive action to streamline and focus the business enabled its transformation into one of the best-performing financial services companies in Australia,” said Polson.

“After 25 years in financial services, including five years in CEO and deputy CEO roles, I’m looking forward to taking a career sabbatical, said Dominic Stevens.

Established in 1985, Challenger is a large Australian investment manager listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Funds and assets under management totalled $27.6 billion as of September 2011, representing an 8 per cent rise on the same period in 2010.