- Stefano Volpetti Appointed President Smoke-Free Products
Category & Chief Consumer Officer
- Werner Barth Appointed President Combustibles Category &
Global Combustibles Marketing
Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE: PM) today
announced that the company is establishing a category management
structure for its smoke-free and combustible cigarettes businesses
to accelerate the delivery of a smoke-free future. Stefano
Volpetti, currently PMI’s Chief Consumer Officer, has been
appointed President Smoke-Free Products Category & Chief
Consumer Officer. Werner Barth, currently PMI’s Senior Vice
President Commercial, has been appointed President Combustibles
Category & Global Combustibles Marketing.
“We are introducing a category management structure to further
unlock and enhance PMI’s growth as the company accelerates toward a
smoke-free future, ensuring that we remain focused, delivering on
what matters, seamlessly—faster, with better quality, and improved
cost,” said Jacek Olczak, PMI’s Chief Executive Officer. “Stefano
and Werner are leaders of exceptional caliber, and I have every
confidence that they will succeed in their new roles, working
closely together to achieve a smoke-free future.”
“Establishing a global end-to-end category view will be
fundamental in further driving our smoke-free products’ growth
trajectory, fostering consumer centricity, and leveraging the
strengths of our markets and regions as we work together to deliver
on our smoke-free future ambitions,” said Volpetti.
“The new structure will be paramount in achieving our financial
and non-financial targets over the next several years, helping us
maintain our competitive position in the cigarette market, which in
turn best positions us to significantly accelerate our smoke-free
journey,” added Barth.
Both leadership appointments will be effective November 1, 2021.
The new category management structure ensures greater end-to-end
accountability from development to deployment, with the continued
cooperation of relevant functions such as Product, Life Sciences,
Operations, and IT. Volpetti and Barth will become the strategic
owners of each category and will work with the regions and markets
to achieve PMI’s business targets. PMI’s six regional Presidents
will continue to report to the CEO.
Since the launch of PMI’s first smoke-free product IQOS in 2014,
the company has made significant progress in reinventing its
operating model and expanding its organizational capabilities,
while continuing to deliver strong business results. PMI’s
smoke-free products are available in 70 markets as of September 30,
2021, and generated approximately 29% of the company’s total net
revenues in the third quarter. By 2025, PMI aspires to have its
smoke-free products available for sale in 100 markets as of
year-end and to generate more than half of its total net revenues
for the full year.
Executive Bios
Stefano Volpetti is a global leader with proven consumer
expertise and a track record of transforming brands in complex
business environments. Volpetti joined PMI in 2019 as Chief
Consumer Officer, driving consumer centricity through the function
to deliver “fit-for-use” solutions for market deployment that cover
the entire realm of the IQOS brand building, innovation, services,
and omnichannel experience. Before joining PMI, Volpetti worked at
Procter & Gamble for 22 years, where he progressed through
various roles with increasing responsibility, including as a vice
president and brand franchise leader for a global division with
presence in more than 100 markets. He also worked at Luxottica
Eyewear as Chief Marketing Officer in 2015, gaining valuable
exposure to retail operations.
Werner Barth is a PMI stalwart with a deep knowledge of the
business, recognized for his courageous leadership, strategic
thinking, and broad business expertise. As PMI’s Senior Vice
President, Commercial, a position he held since 2018, Barth built a
strong downstream organization, instilling consumer centricity and
ensuring seamless deployment of products and programs. Barth joined
Philip Morris Germany in 1990 as a trainee, and since then has
built his career through key assignments. He was appointed Director
Marketing Spain in 2002 and then Director Sales Germany &
Austria in 2004. In 2007, he was appointed Managing Director
Benelux. He was promoted to Managing Director Germany & Austria
in June 2011. In April 2015, Barth was appointed Senior Vice
President Marketing & Sales.
Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free
Future
Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in
the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately
replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of
adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company,
its shareholders, and other stakeholders. PMI is a leading
international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale
of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products, associated
electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing
products in markets outside the U.S. In addition, versions of PMI’s
IQOS Platform 1 device and consumables have received marketing
authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
under the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway; the
FDA has also authorized the marketing of a version of IQOS and its
consumables as a Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP), finding that
an exposure modification order for these products is appropriate to
promote the public health. PMI is building a future on a new
category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a
much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through
multidisciplinary capabilities in product development,
state-of-the-art facilities, and scientific substantiation, PMI
aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer
preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMI’s smoke-free
product portfolio includes heat-not-burn products,
nicotine-containing vapor products, and oral nicotine products. As
of September 30, 2021, PMI's smoke-free products are available for
sale in 70 markets in key cities or nationwide, and PMI estimates
that approximately 14.9 million adults around the world have
already switched to IQOS and stopped smoking. For more information,
please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release contains projections of future results and
other forward-looking statements. Achievement of future results is
subject to risks, uncertainties, and inaccurate assumptions. In the
event that risks or uncertainties materialize, or underlying
assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially
from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Pursuant
to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, PMI is identifying important factors
that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results
and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any
forward-looking statements made by PMI.
PMI’s business risks include: excise tax increases and
discriminatory tax structures; increasing marketing and regulatory
restrictions that could reduce our competitiveness, eliminate our
ability to communicate with adult consumers, or ban certain of our
products in certain markets or countries; health concerns relating
to the use of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products and
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; litigation related to
tobacco use and intellectual property; intense competition; the
effects of global and individual country economic, regulatory, and
political developments, natural disasters and conflicts; changes in
adult smoker behavior; lost revenues as a result of counterfeiting,
contraband, and cross-border purchases; governmental
investigations; unfavorable currency exchange rates and currency
devaluations, and limitations on the ability to repatriate funds;
adverse changes in applicable corporate tax laws; adverse changes
in the cost, availability, and quality of tobacco and other
agricultural products and raw materials, as well as components and
materials for our electronic devices; and the integrity of its
information systems and effectiveness of its data privacy policies.
PMI’s future profitability may also be adversely affected should it
be unsuccessful in its attempts to produce and commercialize
reduced-risk products or if regulation or taxation do not
differentiate between such products and cigarettes; if it is unable
to successfully introduce new products, promote brand equity, enter
new markets, or improve its margins through increased prices and
productivity gains; if it is unable to expand its brand portfolio
internally or through acquisitions and the development of strategic
business relationships; or if it is unable to attract and retain
the best global talent. Future results are also subject to the
lower predictability of our reduced-risk product category's
performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant societal and
economic disruption, and resulted in closures of stores, factories,
and offices, and restrictions on manufacturing, distribution, and
travel, all of which will adversely impact our business, results of
operations, cash flows, and financial position during the
continuation of the pandemic. Our business continuity plans and
other safeguards may not be effective to mitigate the impact of the
pandemic. Currently, significant risks include our diminished
ability to convert adult smokers to our reduced-risk products,
significant volume declines in our duty-free business and certain
other key markets, disruptions or delays in our manufacturing and
supply chain, increased currency volatility, and delays in certain
cost saving, transformation, and restructuring initiatives. Our
business could also be adversely impacted if key personnel or a
significant number of employees or business partners become
unavailable due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
significant adverse impact of COVID-19 on the economic or political
conditions in markets in which we operate could result in changes
to the preferences of our adult consumers and lower demand for our
products, particularly for our mid-price or premium-price brands.
Continuation of the pandemic could disrupt our access to the credit
markets or increase our borrowing costs. Governments may
temporarily be unable to focus on the development of science-based
regulatory frameworks for the development and commercialization of
reduced-risk products or on the enforcement or implementation of
regulations that are significant to our business. In addition,
messaging about the potential negative impacts of the use of our
products on COVID-19 risks may lead to increasingly restrictive
regulatory measures on the sale and use of our products, negatively
impact demand for our products, the willingness of adult consumers
to switch to our reduced-risk products, and our efforts to advocate
for the development of science-based regulatory frameworks for the
development and commercialization of reduced-risk products.
The impact of these risks also depends on factors beyond our
knowledge or control, including the duration and severity of the
pandemic, its recurrence in our key markets, actions taken to
contain its spread and to mitigate its public health effects, and
the ultimate economic consequences thereof.
PMI is further subject to other risks detailed from time to time
in its publicly filed documents, including the Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended June 30, 2021. PMI cautions that the foregoing list
of important factors is not a complete discussion of all potential
risks and uncertainties. PMI does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statement that it may make from time to time,
except in the normal course of its public disclosure
obligations.
###
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Philip Morris International Iro Antoniadou T. +41 58 242
4500 E. iro.antoniadou@pmi.com
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