According to the publication, Abdallah researched correlations between smoking and health and concluded that cigarette smoking is a serious health hazard. He then developed methods and techniques to make less harmful cigarette products. Abdallah shared his knowledge at more than 60 seminars worldwide.
Abdallah authored three books covering smoke evaluation, product development and product quality, which were translated into Spanish, Russian and Chinese.
In 2017, Tobacco Reporter recognized Abdallah with a Golden Leaf Award in the Most Outstanding Service to the Industry category.
First published in 1899, Marquis Who’s Who chronicles the lives of accomplished individuals “from every significant field of endeavor.”
22nd Century Group has appointed James A. Mish to the position of CEO effective June 22, 2020. John Franzino has been named chief financial officer effective immediately.
Mish brings extensive global executive leadership experience in science-driven organizations with a recent focus on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).
Prior to joining 22nd Century, Mish served as CEO of Noramco, a producer of controlled substances for the pharmaceutical industry, and Purisys, a synthetic cannabinoid API ingredients and solutions provider to pharmaceutical and consumer products companies. Mish led the creation and spinoff of Purisys from Noramco during his tenure.
Prior to joining 22nd Century Group, Franzino served as chief financial officer of the West Point Association of Graduates. Additionally, he has extensive strategic financial leadership experience serving as vice president of finance and controller at Bard College; as chief financial officer of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company; and as chief financial officer of Labatt USA.
“We are very pleased to welcome Jim as our new Chief Executive Officer at this critical juncture in our Company’s history,” said Nora B. Sullivan, chairperson of the board of directors of 22nd Century. “We are also pleased to welcome John Franzino into the role of chief financial officer.”
Harnessing decades of experience in process instrumentation, Ian Benson sets out on his own.
By George Gay
Photos courtesy of Ian Benson
Shortly after starting a video call with Ian Benson at the beginning of April, I noticed that behind him, on the wall of his office, was a sign that read: “Gone sailing.” If only, he must have been thinking. You don’t have to speak with Benson for long to realize that he is not a man who takes easily to sitting around, and our call took place about a week into the U.K.’s coronavirus lockdown.
His frustration, however, concerned not only his inability to access his boat, which, after having been cleaned over winter, had been returned to the water just three weeks earlier, but the fact that the lockdown was making it difficult to make headway in respect of two consultancy projects—one in progress and another recently negotiated—that he was undertaking as part of the company he set up in October last year, Ian Benson Consultative Solutions (IBCS).
Benson, who has been involved since the 1980s in the design, development and implementation of online and QA/QC process instrumentation for manufacturing industries, such as those producing tobacco, flexible packaging and food, last year went out on his own offering a number of services, including the evaluation and optimization of online process measurements in factories. And it is noteworthy that one of the points he made in a letter sent out on setting up IBCS was that he was internationally mobile—able to visit manufacturing facilities wherever they might be.
For many years, Benson’s life has revolved around travel, whether on water for relaxation or by air for work. Indeed, he mentioned a number of times during our call that he hugely enjoyed traveling, though what he really meant, I think, is that in the case of work travel, he enjoys arriving wherever he is bound for and, especially, meeting people, interacting with them and building relationships that straddle the workplace and restaurant.
Interestingly, however, his work life could have been very different from how it panned out. He told me how, in 1978, after having obtained his chemistry degree and PhD (focusing on organometallic catalytic systems and spectroscopy) at Bristol University, U.K., he had “dreams” of harnessing all the “wonderful skills” he had learned, and so started looking for industry-relevant roles to exploit his knowledge. However, he said, it was not to be because such forward-looking opportunities were scarce if not nonexistent. Clearly, at that stage he could easily have slipped into academia had it not been for the fact that the area of research he was engaged in ran out of road. Looked at from today’s perspective, it’s hard to imagine that, at a time when the world was becoming paranoid about running out of oil, there would not have been enough interest in synthesizing organic oil, but that was apparently the case.
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So, Benson, in his own words, “moved onto reality,” taking a job in the U.K. with the photographic film company, Ilford, where he initially worked as a research scientist but where he gradually moved to a technical services role, which involved product management—designing products for customers. This move, he said, confirmed to him that he didn’t want to pursue an academic career—that he preferred interacting with customers and providing things that companies needed. Benson laughed somewhat guiltily as he added that this was probably the start of his moving to the “dark side”—sales and marketing.
It was a gradual move. After three years, he left Ilford and, in 1981, joined Infrared Engineering, then a private company of about 30 people, as an applications engineer. In 1992, Infrared was bought by, and became an operating company of, the Fairey Group (later renamed Spectris after Fairey bought Spectris), by which time Benson was working in sales and, shortly after the acquisition, was made a legal director—sales—of Infrared. After taking a number of marketing courses, his role evolved to embrace both sales and marketing; but, eventually, that role became too burdensome as the business grew and, especially, after Infrared acquired NDC Systems, a U.S. company specializing in instrumentation systems for the flexible packaging market, and became NDC Infrared Engineering. At that point, around 1997–1998, he had to choose between sales and marketing, and, having developed an “increasingly passionate” interest in marketing and having worked in sales for more than 10 years, he chose the latter.
As a newly appointed applications engineer at Infrared in 1981, Benson began working with customers to design measurements they needed to make as part of their processes and that could be made using Infrared’s instruments, such as moisture or nicotine in tobacco. He quickly became the manager of what was then a small department and started to travel the world, relishing his immersion in different cultures. “It was a really interesting role and one that I would recommend to anyone who isn’t certain whether they want to get into the sales and marketing arena, because it is a gentle introduction,” he said.
“Interesting” hardly describes things adequately. Benson smiled broadly as he recalled many years ago shivering in a suit and tie as he made a sales pitch during an Asian winter to tobacco company representatives rugged up in a cold, unheated venue, and watched them gradually fall asleep. In fact, a lot of the stories he tells have him as the fall guy. Benson told me also that he was very hands-on and liked to get on with things, though at times he should have been more patient. Once in a GLT plant in South America he quickly climbed a ladder, keen to see where gauges were going to be positioned above a conveyor. But where he climbed to was also an exit port for a strip-tobacco drying station, and he was hit by a nicotine rush that almost had him falling down the ladder. Seeing the state he was in, his hosts, hardly able to contain their laughter, told him they would have warned him had he waited five seconds.
For many years, Ian Benson’s life has revolved around travel, whether on water for relaxation or by air for work.
But such close engagements with tobacco processing and the people involved in it were key to Benson’s success, and he underpinned his company’s position in established markets and led it into new regions and countries. On one trip in the mid-1980s, he managed to hitch a ride on the private helicopter taking the president of Gudang Garam from Surabaya to the company’s headquarters in Kediri, Indonesia, and later returned home with an order worth £250,000 ($311,174), a huge amount of money for a relatively small company in those days. Importantly, too, Benson was one of the tobacco industry pioneers who broke into the China market as that country opened to the West. China became NDC Infrared’s biggest tobacco-sector market and was still the biggest when he left in August 2019.
Later, it helped that, with NDC on board, Benson was able to make sales pitches that underlined the huge range of measurements that his company could offer. He told me that he could take a cigarette pack and tell potential customers that NDC Infrared could measure the thickness of the film that the tear-strip was made from, the adhesive with which it was attached and the thickness of the overwrap to which the tear-strip was stuck. Beyond the wrap, the company’s instruments could measure the moisture in the pack’s board and in the metalized film, and the coating applied to the aluminum foil to stop it discoloring. Finally, in the case of the cigarette itself, measurements could be made of the filter paper, the tow and, hugely importantly, the moisture, nicotine and sugar in the tobacco.
With such a pitch, it was not surprising that NDC Infrared, and Benson in particular, built up close relationships with companies around the world, and he spoke with special fondness of bygone trips to the multiple factories operated by the then Spanish tobacco monopoly, Tabacalera, where he worked closely over long hours checking the performances of his company’s instruments with the monopoly’s engineers and technicians; and where, at lunch and dinner, he joined them again to savor the country’s fine foods and wines.
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Driving forward
But I have to be careful here because I shouldn’t give the impression that Benson is somehow stuck in the past, reminiscing about the good old days, because he isn’t. His naturally restless spirit tends to drive him forward, something that is illustrated in his letter to prospective clients where he points out that he can help in respect of old or new processes, existing or evolving technology, and with new and developing needs, even those where a solution has not yet been identified.
But, having said that, there is one positive aspect of the tobacco instrumentation business that he mentioned as having been lost in more recent times, and it is illustrated above in the anecdote about Spain. In the past, he said, major tobacco manufacturers employed a lot of highly skilled engineers and technicians with whom instrumentation company people could work in situ in testing and improving established devices and developing new ones, but those engineers and technicians had disappeared, victims of cost reductions.
Of course, Benson well understands the reasons why those cost reductions had to be made. After all, he has spent just about all his working life serving an industry that has been under ever-increasing pressure from anti-tobacco activists and regulators. And this raises an interesting point. Despite all of the consolidation the industry has undergone and despite all of the pressure that has seen smoking decrease sharply in at least Western markets, Benson never mentioned any major downturns having occurred in the demand for tobacco factory instruments, which logically should have been indirectly and negatively affected by these developments. And the reason for this is that there haven’t been any significant downturns. What has been lost on the swings has been gained on the roundabouts.
As tobacco products have been changed in response to regulations or the need for cost savings, the need for measuring new or modified products and processes in traditional or new ways has increased, so the demand for the instruments that can make those measurements has increased also. Over the years, various “new” products have been added to blends, including stem, waste in the form of reconstituted tobacco and expanded tobacco of different types. And as Benson says, those changing processes have had to be controlled through new or modified measurements that have required a continuous development cycle in so far as instrumentation is concerned.
And this demand for new measurements and instruments hasn’t been driven only by outside pressure. The increasing speed of cigarette manufacture and increasingly strict industry-set standards have required that whereas primary factories might have used one gauge in the past, now, some of them will be equipped with 40. And then there is the development of heat-not-burn products, the components of which, most of them highly differentiated, have to be measured with the utmost precision.
There is clearly much still to do—well, once the lockdown is lifted and there’s been just a little time to go sailing.
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.
Swedish Match’s Rich Flaherty has decided to retire from his position as president of the U.S. division effective Oct. 2, 2020.
Flaherty joined Swedish Match in 2000 as the chief financial officer for the U.S. division and has led the business since 2008.
Tom Hayes will transition from his current position as group chief financial officer effective Aug. 1, 2020, to take on the role of president of the U.S. division. Hayes has served in his current role since 2018. He joined Swedish Match in 2006 and was previously the chief financial officer for the U.S. division.
Effective Aug. 1, 2020, Anders Larsson will be appointed chief financial officer of the Swedish Match Group. Larsson joined Swedish Match in 2008, and his current position is vice president of group finance.
“Rich has been a driving force behind the phenomenal success of our U.S. business, and his leadership will be missed,” said Lars Dahlgren, president and CEO. “On behalf of all the employees of Swedish Match, I wish Rich and his family the very best for the future.
“We have a comprehensive succession planning process in place at Swedish Match and have been well prepared for this transition. Tom spent most of his time at the company with the U.S. division and has been a great contributor these past few years in his current role. Anders has been working closely with Tom since 2018 and is well prepared for his move to the CFO role.”
Broughton Nicotine Services has hired five additional toxicology specialists to strengthen its support for companies in the electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) sector.
The new team members are: Yvonne Wilding (director, product safety and compliance), Emmanuel Minet and Frazer Lowe (principal scientists), Djeren Simitdjioglu (associate toxicologist) and Anais Kahve (toxicologist).
Wilding is a highly experienced toxicologist with more than 10 years’ broad regulatory toxicology experience and 20 years pharmaceutical research and development experience at companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.
‘’We’re delighted to welcome these highly experienced individuals to our existing team,” said Chris Allen, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at Broughton. “Toxicology is an essential element of the scientific and regulatory support we provide to ENDS companies submitting premarket applications in the UK, US and emerging markets.
“Having a large team of toxicologists in-house collaborating with our analytical team and external suppliers will help us leverage improved efficiencies for clients and accelerate compilation of scientific data for regulatory projects to advance a smoke free future.’’
Jean-Louis Vander Elst died April 12 after contracting the coronavirus. He had been unwell for some time.
Born in 1934, Vander Elst worked in the tobacco industry his entire career. He studied commercial engineering at Belgium’s Leuven University, spent time in the United States and subsequently joined his family company Tabacofina-Vander Elst in Antwerp, Belgium, where he stayed until 1982.
The best-known tobacco product in Belgium at that time was the Belga cigarette. One of Vander Elst’s projects was to develop a filtered version of the brand. When Rothmans International took control of Tabacofina-Vander Elst in the early 1980s, Vander Elst joined Casalee in Antwerp.
Six years later he became an independent trader.
Vander Elst was admired and respected across the industry for his broad subject knowledge, along with his interest in mentoring and developing the skills of young people.
Friends instantly recognized Vander Elst’s presence by the aroma of his pipe, which was usually filled with his favorite McBaren Mixture tobacco blend.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is recommending that investors oppose British American Tobacco’s (BAT) remuneration report at its annual meeting later this month.
The proxy advisory firm says support for BAT’s pay report is unjustified because of the increase in CEO Jack Bowles’ salary from £1.18 million ($1.45 million) to £1.29 million. Many leaders at FTSE peers have taken temporary pay cuts because of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to ISS.
BAT defended the pay increase. “Jack Bowles was appointed on a package that was 21 percent lower than that of his predecessor,” a company spokesman said on Friday.
“Following the 9.5 percent pay increase for Jack following a very strong first year in role, his total fixed remuneration is still 15 percent lower than his predecessor.”
The company also noted that its remuneration report had won the backing of Glass Lewis, another proxy adviser.
Altria Group today announced Howard Willard’s retirement as chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Altria, effective April 14, 2020. Willard, who was recovering from Covid-19, decided to step down following 28 years of distinguished service to Altria and its subsidiaries.
Following Willard’s retirement, Altria’s board of directors elected Billy Gifford to serve as Altria’s CEO. Gifford has served in numerous senior leadership roles during his more than 25-year career at Altria, including most recently vice chairman and chief financial officer where he was responsible for Altria’s financial functions as well as its core tobacco businesses, sales and distribution business, and consumer & marketplace insights team. Previously he served as Altria’s senior vice president, strategy and business development and president and CEO of Philip Morris USA. Gifford currently serves as a director at Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV as one of Altria’s designees.
Altria also announced the board’s decision to separate the roles of chairman and CEO. The board elected Thomas Farrell, formerly the board’s independent presiding director, as independent chairman of the board, effective April 16, 2020.
“The board thanks Howard for his nearly 30 years of distinguished service to Altria and for helping to set the course for Altria’s 10-year vision to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a non-combustible future,” said Farrell. “Our election of Billy as the next CEO reflects the board’s belief that his collaborative leadership style, strategic mindset and deep financial and industry expertise are right to lead Altria towards that future.”
“We believe we’re well positioned to make significant progress against our vision,” said Gifford. “I’m excited to work with our strong leadership team, fantastic employees and key stakeholders to lead Altria forward in its pursuit of the 10-year vision.”
With Gifford’s new position, the board also elected Salvatore Mancuso executive vice president and chief financial officer. Over the course of his more than 29 years with Altria, Mancuso has held a variety of leadership roles across the finance, compliance and strategy & business development organizations. In his most recent role as senior vice president, finance and procurement, Mancuso oversaw Altria’s treasury, tax, audit, financial planning & analysis, and controller functions while also overseeing the procurement and information services teams, among others.
“Sal is a well-respected leader across our finance organization and the Altria family of companies. I look forward to continuing to work closely with him in his new role as our CFO,” said Gifford.
The CEO change does not come as a complete surprise, given the recent underperformance of Altria’s stock. Altria faced multiple setbacks during Willard’s two-year tenure, including two write-downs of its Juul investment and a Federal Trade Commission investigation of the December 2018 deal.
In a note to investors, Morgan Stanley said the leadership change offers Altria the opportunity to create shareholder value by, among other things, accelerating investment in reduced-risk products and accelerating share buybacks.
Cole Hatton, who was Juul Lab’s principal engineer, left the company on Apr. 6.
Hatton, who was one of the company’s first employees, was named on the patent for the Juul device as a co-inventor, along with the company’s co-founders, Adam Bowen and James Monsees.
The personnel changes come amid structural changes at the company that began in December 2018 when tobacco giant Altria Group paid $12.8 billion for a third of the company.
Universal Corp. has appointed J. Patrick O’Keefe as senior vice president of Universal Global Ventures effective April 1, 2020.
Universal Global Ventures is a wholly owned nontobacco subsidiary of Universal Corp. that holds FruitSmart, Universal’s recently acquired independent specialty fruit and vegetable ingredient processor serving global markets.
O’Keefe will oversee the company’s nascent plant-based ingredient platform and the company’s previously stated efforts to continue to build out a broader agri-products services platform.
“We are pleased to welcome Patrick to Universal Corporation as we expand and deepen our strong bench of executive talent in areas outside of tobacco,” said George C. Freeman III, chairman, president and CEO of Universal Corporation. “With almost three decades of food and beverage industry experience, Patrick brings skills that are directly relevant to our ongoing strategic and growth initiatives in adjacent industries.”
O’Keefe brings nearly 30 years of diverse, multilevel experience in the food ingredients industry. Prior to joining Universal, O’Keefe served as chief operating officer for Allen Flavors. From 2015 to 2018, O’Keefe served as CEO of the Americas for Dohler Group. From 2007 to 2015, he served as president of Finlay Tea Solutions U.S. and then CEO of Finlay’s Extracts & Ingredients. Earlier in his career, O’Keefe held roles of increasing responsibility at Sensient Flavors, Givaudan Flavors and International Flavors & Fragrances.
