Alliance One International has announced details of a raft of changes to the company, including a new organisational structure and new executive leadership appointments.
The leaf merchant said in August its corporate name will change to Pyxus International Inc. from 12 September, and that Alliance One will remain the brand name for Pyxus International’s tobacco leaf business. The company had not given further details on its new organisational structure.
In a press release, Alliance One explained changes to the company which are aimed at diversifying its business as part of its ‘One Tomorrow’ initiative.
As of 12 September, Pyxus International will be a holding company led by Pieter Sikkel as president, CEO and chairman of the company’s board of directors. The company will be divided into divisions. The division Global Specialty Products will include the business lines e-liquids, hemp and legal cannabis and will be led by Bryan Mazur, who will have autonomy to “drive innovation and continue to disrupt these fast-growing categories”, Alliance One said. The tobacco leaf division will be led by Alexandre Strohschoen, who served previously as regional director for the South America region at Alliance One. Graham Kayes, executive vice president of global business relationship management and leaf, will retain his current role and report to Strohschoen. A value-added agricultural products division will focus on expanding Pyxus International’s trading in other crops and will be led by Jose Maria Costa. Costa will shift from his current role as executive vice president of global operations and supply chain in order to take on the new role.
As a holding company, Pyxus International will provide financial, legal, business, and human resource services to its divisions. Financial services will be led by Joel Thomas as executive vice president and chief financial officer. William O'Quinn will head legal Services as secretary, senior vice president and chief legal officer. Tracy Purvis will be senior vice president of business services and Laura Jones will be senior vice president of human resources.
“The implementation of our new organisational structure marks a major milestone in our 'One Tomorrow' transformation strategy," Sikkel said in the press release. "The new structure will enable us to focus our resources to support our diversified business lines and capitalise on our core strengths in agronomy and traceability as we rebrand as the trusted provider of responsibly produced, independently verified, sustainable and traceable agricultural products, ingredients and services.” He said the new structure will allow the company to create an environment that is more flexible, entrepreneurial and supportive of growth for the different business lines. "Our objective is to use the advantages we have in creative and dedicated people, global footprint, infrastructure and scale to drive continued growth and success in all of our business lines globally and deliver enhanced value to our shareholders," Sikkel said.
From 12 September, the company said it plans to begin trading on the NYSE under the symbol PYX.