Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) has announced a long-planned leadership succession, which will be completed in May 2021. Philip Morris International’s current Chief Executive Officer André Calantzopoulos was appointed new Executive Chairman of the Board, after Louis Camilleri had retired for personal reasons. Lucio Noto will serve as interim Chairman until the succession of Calantzopoulos, whereas PMI’s current COO Jacek Olczak will succeed Calantzopoulos as Chief Executive Officer of the company. PMI announced that these changes will be effective as of May next year.
The new CEO of the company, Jacek Olczak, has been the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Philip Morris International since 2018, and in 2012-2018 he was the Chief Financial Officer of the company.
The company also held a special briefing on governance changes today, at which the company's current CEO, André Calantzopoulos, said the PMI had undergone a major transformation over the past seven years, offering smokers a scientifically proven alternative.
“We have the world’s leading product portfolio in both combustible and smoke-free products, an outstanding management team, and a high-performing, fast-learning organization across the world. We are perfectly poised for continued success. I am very pleased to hand over the CEO responsibility to Jacek. Having worked closely with Jacek for decades.” said André Calantzopoulos.
Olczak himself, states that he joined the Philip Morris in 1993 and worked in finance and general management positions across Europe, including as Managing Director of PMI’s markets in Poland and Germany and as President of the European Union Region before his appointment as CFO of PMI in 2012. Later in 2018 Jacek was appointed as Chief Operating Officer.
According to Jacek Olczak, his main strategic goal will be to develop a project to create a "smoke-free future".
"The vision and goal of our company is quite clear. It is an ambitious goal to offer scientifically proven alternatives to the millions of cigarette users who would otherwise continue to use it. "Not only is this an opportunity for these people to mitigate the effects of harmful substances, but it is also of particular importance to public health," said Jacek Olczak.
PMI estimates that approximately 11.7 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI’s heat-not-burn product, available for sale in 61 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. Among them is Georgia, which joined PMI's "Smoke-free Future" project in July 2020. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of IQOS as a modified risk tobacco product (MRTP), finding that an exposure modification order for these products is appropriate to promote the public health.
At a briefing on governance change, André Calantzopoulos, the future Executive Chairman of the Board, said that the governments have to find a right approach for tobacco harm reduction, because industry alone can’t achieve this goal. As a sample of innovative regulations Calantzopoulos names the USA and EU countries.
PMI is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company headquartered in Switzerland and it has a market capitalization of $ 131.5 billion.
