Wrap Text
Management Board Changes and a New Regional Structure
British American Tobacco p.l.c.
Incorporated in England and Wales
(Registration number: 03407696)
Short name: BATS
Share code: BTI
ISIN number: GB0002875804
("British American Tobacco p.l.c." or "the Company")
British American Tobacco p.l.c.
British American Tobacco p.l.c.
31 January 2023
Driving Faster Transformation at BAT: Management Board Changes and a New Regional Structure
Following a strategic review of its regions, business units and global functions, BAT will implement a
number of senior management changes and a new regional structure to both streamline, and
accelerate, the transformation of its business.
Since the launch of the purpose-led A Better Tomorrow™ strategy in 2020, BAT has made significant
progress in building a New Categories consumer base, growing powerful global brands and
developing organisational capabilities for the future.
The new structure will increase the efficiency of BAT’s geographical footprint, optimise market
prioritisation and will be based on fewer, larger business units, enabling even greater collaboration
and accelerated decision-making across BAT.
Jack Bowles, BAT Chief Executive commented:
“As our transformation journey towards our strategic milestones gathers pace, we need to further
sharpen our operating model, streamline our business to drive agility, and continue to enhance
organisational capabilities. As part of our commitment to building A Better Tomorrow, the changes
we have announced today will drive increased focus, accelerate our transformation and fuel growth
as we strengthen the foundations of our future as a category-led enterprise.”
Following this strategic review, underpinned by distinct market-archetypes, the number of regions
will be reduced from four to three, and the number of business units from 16 to 12, while also
accelerating the company’s market exit plans.
BAT’s new structure will consist of three regions:
- USA (Reynolds American Inc.)
- Americas & Europe (AME)
- Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA)
In addition, two new Management Board roles will be created in order to ensure clarity of
ownership, accountability and focus: Chief Transformation Officer and Director, Combustibles.
The Chief Transformation Officer will be responsible for driving faster transformation, accelerating
greater capability build in key areas and enabling an even faster, simpler and more agile
organisation. The role of Director, Combustibles will lead the focus on driving value from
combustibles to fuel further investment in New Categories.
These structural changes and the following appointments and other changes reflect the quality,
depth and diversity of management within BAT and will take effect from 1 April 2023:
- Johan Vandermeulen, currently Regional Director, Europe, will be appointed to the new role
of Chief Transformation Officer
- Luciano Comin will be appointed to the new role of Director, Combustibles
- Frederico (Fred) Monteiro will be promoted to the Management Board as Regional Director,
Americas & Europe Region (AME)
- Guy Meldrum will continue to lead BAT’s largest business in the USA as President, Reynolds
American Inc.
- Michael Dijanosic will take on an expanded role as Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Middle
East & Africa (APMEA)
- Javed Iqbal, Director, Digital and Information, will work with the Regional Directors and Chief
Transformation Officer to ensure that the Digital & Information agenda is fully aligned with
BAT’s corporate transformation
The President, Reynolds American Inc., Regional Directors for AME and APMEA, and the Director,
Digital & Information, will report to the Chief Transformation Officer. The Director, Combustibles will
report to the Chief Growth Officer.
Johan joined the Management Board in 2014 and has extensive leadership experience across BAT,
previously leading the Asia Pacific and Africa & Middle East Regions, following general and marketing
management roles in Russia, Turkey and as a Global Brand Director. Johan will report to Jack Bowles,
Chief Executive.
Luciano was Regional Director, Americas & Sub-Saharan Africa, prior to which he held senior general
and marketing management positions in Europe, Mexico and Malaysia.
Fred has spent more than 20 years with BAT, most recently as Area Director of Central Europe South,
based in Romania. Prior to this role, Fred has held numerous senior leadership positions including
Marketing Director, Next Generation Products, Head of Marketing for the Europe Region and
General Manager, BAT Japan.
Further, Dr. David O’Reilly, Director, Research and Science, will step down from the Management
Board on 28 February 2023 and leave BAT with effect from 31 May 2023 to pursue other interests.
David joined the Management Board on 1 January 2012, and has been instrumental, both internally
and externally, in driving the science agenda that has underpinned BAT’s transformation.
David will be succeeded by Dr. James Murphy, currently Executive Vice President of Scientific
Research and Development at Reynolds American Inc.
James has been with BAT for over 17 years and has held a number of senior roles in the Centre in
R&D, Operations and Marketing as well as in the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa region. James will
join the Management Board as the Director, Research and Science Designate, with effect from 1
February 2023, before assuming the role of Director, Research and Science, reporting to the CEO, on
1 March 2023.
Jack Bowles, BAT Chief Executive, said:
“I am pleased that the changes we will be making to the Management Board reflect our new,
streamlined Regional and Business Unit structure.
“I would like to welcome Fred and James to the Management Board and look forward to their
energy, contribution and continued leadership.
“I would also like to thank David for his significant contribution to BAT over the last 30 years. He has
consistently been at the forefront of BAT’s transformation agenda, and under his leadership BAT has
created and developed world-class R&D capabilities in New Categories, and beyond.
“I am excited about the path that lies ahead for BAT, as we work together to write the next chapter
in our corporate story and continue building the BAT of the future.”
ENDS
Enquiries
Media Centre
+44 (0) 20 7845 2888 (24 hours) | @BATplc
Investor Relations
Victoria Buxton: +44 (0)20 7845 2012
John Harney: +44 (0)20 7845 1263
About BAT
BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a purpose to build A Better
Tomorrow™ by reducing the health impact of its business through offering a greater choice of
enjoyable and less risky products for adult consumers.
BAT continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to
avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise continue to
smoke to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives*†. In order to
deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric multi-category consumer products
business.
BAT’s ambition is to have 50 million consumers of its non-combustible products by 2030 and to
generate £5billion of New Categories revenue by 2025. BAT has set stretching ESG targets including
achieving carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 & 2 by 2030 and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic
and making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
BAT employs over 52,000 people and operates in over 175 countries. The BAT Group generated
revenue of £25.68 billion in 2021 and profit from operations of £10.2 billion.
BAT’s Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-
risk*† New Category tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non-combustible tobacco
products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products, modern oral products including tobacco-
free nicotine pouches, as well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In the first
half of 2022, we had 20.4 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 2.1 million
on full year 2021.
References in this statement to ‘BAT’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to the British American Tobacco
Group.
* Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These
products are not risk free and are addictive.
† Our products as sold in the US, including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these
products without FDA clearance.
Forward-looking statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements, including "forward-looking" statements
made within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe,"
"anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will,"
"expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions.
These include statements regarding our customer target ambition, New Categories revenue targets
and our ESG targets.
All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks,
uncertainties and other factors. It is believed that the expectations reflected in this release are
reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those currently anticipated. A review of the reasons why actual results and
developments may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within forward-
looking statements can be found by referring to the information contained under the headings
“Cautionary Statement” and "Group Principal Risks " in the 2021 Annual Report and Form 20-F of
British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT PLC).
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in BAT PLC's filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F and
Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's website,
http://www.sec.gov and BAT’s Annual Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the BAT
website www.bat.com.
Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an
independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information
available at the date of preparation of this release and BAT undertakes no obligation to update or
revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Sponsor: Merrill Lynch South Africa (Pty) Ltd t/a BofA Securities
Date: 31-01-2023 09:00:00
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
Sharenet Sites 
