Category: People

Silke Muenster has been named Philip Morris International’s (PMI) first chief diversity officer. Transitioning from her current role as vice president of market research at PMI, Muenster’s new position became effective March 15, 2020, and is based in the company’s operating center in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The company aims to increase the representation of women in management roles across the organization to 40 percent by 2022 based on evidence that shows that companies with diversity in the workplace achieve better results and have more satisfied employees at every level. Right now, women make up 36 percent of management roles at PMI—an increase of 6 percentage points since year end 2014.

Muenster joined PMI in 2011. She was director of market and consumer research until 2012 when she became vice president of market research.

Prior to joining PMI, Muenster spent 12 years in leading research roles at the Coca-Cola Company, four years at Apollinaris & Schweppes and four years at Marbert Kosmetik. She began her career at Research International after earning her degree in mathematics from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.

Lisa Parks will become 22nd Century’s vice president of acquisitions, and Mei Kuo will become the new director of communications and investor relations.

In a newly created role, Parks will drive 22nd Century Group’s strategic partnership activities focused on creating a synergistic portfolio of operating companies to commercialize the company’s proprietary hemp/cannabis plants and intellectual property in development. Prior to joining 22nd Century Group, Parks served as managing director at Envest Capital Partners. Earlier in her career, Parks served as the director of corporate finance at Landmark Media Enterprises. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from William and Mary.

Mei Kuo will lead 22nd Century Group’s communications and investor relations function and serve as the primary liaison between the company, its external stakeholders and the investment community. Kuo previously worked for Shake Shack, an American fast casual restaurant chain, where she established and led the investor relations function. Kuo has held various investor relations and corporate finance positions of increasing responsibilities at other public companies, including Integra LifeSciences and Assurant Inc. Kuo received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Rutgers. Kuo serves as president of the National Investor Relations Institute New York Chapter’s NextGen Committee.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has appointed John Freda as general manager of its operations in the Philippines.

Freda was previously vice president of marketing and sales for JTI Asia-Pacific as well as head of consumer and trade marketing in Germany, general manager in Ireland, Hungary and Slovenia, and he held other senior sales and marketing roles within JTI. He previously worked with the U.K. tobacco company Gallaher.

Peter Kilburg took over as managing director of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in Germany on March 1, 2020.

Kilburg succeeds Jon H. Moore, who held the role as interim since April 2019. Moore will work at JTI’s Geneva headquarters in the global manufacturing performance improvement sector.

Kilburg is a mechanical engineer and business economist. His career at JTI began at the company’s Trier plant in 2001 in the finance department, and he has held various positions within the global supply chain. He worked as director of purchasing, logistics and production planning in the Trier plant and as CFO of JTI in Germany.