A School, globally recognised with many traditions - Stephen Kent '80
Monday, 4 February 2019
Stephen Kent '80 comes from a multi-generational Grammar family. Both his father Warwick and younger brother Andrew are Old Boys (classes of 1956 and 1985 respectively), and his grandfather and great-uncle were both teachers at the School.

Having returned  from Sydney so he could follow in his family's footsteps, Stephen felt right at home from his first moments on campus. "You were part of a school with a great reputation across all facets of school life – it was globally recognised with a long tradition of excellence. When I attended, the highest number of University scholarships were awarded to the School each year."

One School tradition that has continued since Stephen's time at Grammar are the Guest speakers who are invited into assembly - "I used to enjoy when Old Boys would come back to the School and speak in front of assembly and talk about their life achievements since leaving."

Despite the inevitable term exams that no student ever looks forward to - "but holds you in good stead for external examinations and beyond" - Stephen was a well-liked student by both his classmates and masters, with many of them saying, he was "a very diligent and hard-working young man, very pleasant and mature." Accounting and Economics were his favourite subjects, which gave him a great foundation to build on at university.

Completing his Bachelor of Commerce and his Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) qualifications in 1991, Stephen - like many young people - headed over to the United Kingdom to begin his OE. Through his first accounting role at Intercapital (now known as ICAP), Stephen would frequently travel throughout Asia Pacific for business, eventually becoming the Asian Regional Financial Controller, based in the ICAP Regional HQ in Sydney.

In 2002, Stephen was offered the Chief Financial Officer's role for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, which prompted his move to Hong Kong, where he currently resides. In 2005, he was headhunted to his current position of Chief Financial Officer for Asia Pacific at BGC Partners, the world's second largest inter dealer broking firm.

BGC Partners was established in 2004 and is  part of the Cantor Fitzgerald Group. iIn a tragic turn of events, Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees during the 9/11 World Trade Center attack in New York. The Company holds an Annual Charity Day every September in memory of those who died and donates all the brokerage generated on that day to Charities around the world, having raised over USD$150m since the first Charity day.

As the CFO for Asia Pacific, Steve and the Regional BGC Partners Executives coordinate the Charity Day's start in New Zealand and through the Asia time zone as then the European operations start their days and it culminates in the end of New York / US trading hours.

In his own words, Stephen explains a little bit about his work role. "An inter-dealer broker receives 'buy and sell' orders from clients across multiple financial products, mainly large investment and commercial banks. The role of the broker is to match the orders to complete a deal." BGC Partners provides the global market places with the necessary people skills and technologies to make the trading as efficient as possible.

Commenting on Hong Kong and working in the BGC Partners large Corporate HQ for Asia Pacific,  there are both pros and cons to living in such a busy city - "the size of housing and the cost of living is somewhat of a challenge" - but Stephen has relished the opportunity, with the added bonus that "generally, one flight from Hong Kong will get you anywhere you want to go in the world!"

Auckland Grammar is well known for its vast array of sporting and extracurricular activities - and while Stephen agrees that school can at times be a challenge it is only for a short period, but looking back - a very pivotal time in your life, and he would encourage current students to take every opportunity given to them.

The School provided an excellent grounding due to opportunities available in both academic and sporting pursuits.

"Being at school is something you only do once and cannot be repeated, so take all the opportunities that present themselves while you are there. In addition, remember - while a lot of recognition is given to the top sports pupils or teams and top academic pupils, don't think you are not achieving yourself. Some of the greatest achievers after school are the ones from the middle of the pack."