The board of British American Tobacco plc has announced that its current chief operating officer of international business, Jack Bowles, will take over as the CEO of the firm following the retirement of current chief executive Nicandro Durante in 1 April 2019.
Bowles will take on the role of the chief executive designate on 1 November 2018, and will join the board on 1 January 2019.
A Strategic Leader
Commenting on the appointment, chairman of BAT, Richard Burrows, said, “Throughout his career at BAT, Jack has demonstrated excellent strategic leadership; growing businesses, driving productivity improvements and building strong management teams.
“Jack's track record of innovating, and his experience across so many different geographies and areas of our business, position him extremely well to build on Nicandro’s achievements and write the next chapter in BAT’s history,” Burrows added.
Bowles joined the firm in 2004 as CEO of BAT France. He was then appointed the managing director of the firm's listed Malaysian subsidiary.
In 2009, he joined the management board of the organisation as the regional director of Western Europe, and subsequently served as regional director for the Americas and Asia-Pacific region.
Bowles said that he was looking forward to his new role, adding, “It is an exciting time for BAT with many changes in our industry but also great opportunities.
"With our depth of talent, our iconic brands and our range and pipeline of potentially reduced risk products, I am confident that we will take full advantage of these opportunities as we accelerate the transformation of BAT into a stronger multi-category tobacco and nicotine products company,” he added.
Outgoing CEO Durante announced his retirement on 19 September 2018 after a 37-year stint with the firm.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
