Management board changes

Kingsley Wheaton (pictured), MD, Next Generation Products (NGP) at British American Tobacco is to manage the integration of NGP into the wider business.

‘Now that we have built a successful NGP business which is poised for substantial growth, we will be fully integrating NGP into our existing business infrastructure across the Group – both within the functions and the regions – to leverage the scale and expertise of the whole group to drive growth in an area that is fast becoming a key part of our mainstream business,’ BAT said in a note posed on its website. ‘Kingsley Wheaton, managing director, Next Generation Products, will manage this integration process.’

The future of the NGP business was spelled out in a note posed on BAT’s website today saying that, following the acquisition of Reynolds American Inc, BAT was simplifying its regional structure.

The company’s organizational structure would in future be based on three regions:

• Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa (including East and Central Africa; West Africa and South Africa), whose regional director will be Ricardo Oberlander, formerly regional director, Americas.
• Europe and North Africa (including Russia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia, Belarus, and Turkey), whose regional director will be Tadeu Marroco, formerly regional director, Western Europe.
• Asia-Pacific and Middle East, whose regional direct will be Johan Vandermeulen, formerly regional director, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Jack Bowles, currently regional director, Asia-Pacific, will be appointed to the newly-created role of COO for the international business, excluding the US, where Debra Crew, who as president and CEO of Reynolds American, joined the management board with effect from July 27.

Andrew Gray, currently director, marketing, will be appointed chief marketing officer; while David O’Reilly, group scientific and R&D director, will remain a member of the management board, and will report to the chief marketing officer.