A well-known figure in Birmingham's professional services community is retiring this week after a career spanning almost 40 years.
Nick Venning from PwC, who turned 60 in November, says he is looking forward to starting a new chapter in his life in which he will focus on working with good causes and continue his long association with homeless charity St Basils in Birmingham.
Mr Venning has been marketing director of global industries for 12 years at financial services firm PwC in which he focuses on supply chain markets including automotive, energy utilities and mining and pharmaceuticals.
He told the Post : "I do a lot of work in the voluntary sector and would like to do more of that, working with young people on education and employability issues.
"I took part in leadership development programme Common Purpose in 1991 through which I met a lot of people outside of the private sector including the founder of St Basils.
"I have seen two economic cycles come and go and worked through some pretty tough times in the early 1990s with the last recession.
"Things are looking pretty good at the moment for those in employment and economies are growing but there's a huge story there in that, if you're not employed, life's still pretty rough.
"One of the things I will miss though is working daily with highly intelligent and motivated people."
Born in Baghdad, he was educated in Beirut and the UK where he attended the University of London and later studied for a PhD and MBA at Aston University.
After spells with tyre giant Dunlop and foundry group Foseco, he joined Coopers & Lybrand, a forerunner to what became PwC, in 1986 as a management consultant.
He was also a board member with lobby group Birmingham Forward and founding chairman of the then Young City 2000, the organisation’s future leaders counterpart.
Working with the Birmingham Post, Mr Venning was also a founder of Thrive, the city's CSR network and is also deputy chairman of Birmingham Civic Society.
