Governance

David Glazek was appointed Executive Chair of the Board in January 2023. Mr. Glazek served as a director of our company since November 2012, and as our Lead Independent Director from January 2018 until October 2022, and as our non-executive Chair since September 2019. Mr. Glazek was a Partner and Portfolio Manager of Standard General L.P., from 2008 to 2023, and an investment banker at Lazard Frères & Co. from 2000 to 2003 and from 2006 to 2008. He has also worked at the Blackstone Group. Throughout his career he has served on numerous public and private company boards of directors. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. Mr. Glazek holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Graham Purdy was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October of 2022. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr. Purdy served as Chief Operating Officer from 2019 until his appointment to Chief Executive Officer. Since joining TPB in 2004, Mr. Purdy has held various leadership positions, including as President of the New Ventures Division and Senior Vice-President Sales. During his tenure, Mr. Purdy oversaw two of the Company’s highly successful brand extensions, rolling out Zig-Zag Cigar Wraps and Stoker’s MST. In addition, he built a highly effective sales organization driven by an industry-leading performance management system, strategically positioned a number of highly successful new products, and led the integration of many of the Company’s most important strategic initiatives. Before joining TPB, Graham spent seven years at Philip Morris, USA, where he served in senior sales and sales management positions. Graham holds an A.B. from California State University, Chico.

A director of our company since September 2018, Ms. Davis has served as our Lead Independent Director since October 2022. Ms. Davis is a founding partner of West Front Strategies LLC, established in January 2015. West Front Strategies LLC is a government relations firm that services clients in the education, financial services, transportation, tax, technology, international trade, energy, homeland security, healthcare, arts and philanthropy sectors. From 2003 to 2014, Ms. Davis was the Managing Principal at Blank Rome Government Relations, a subsidiary of Blank Rome LLP, a government relations business. Prior to Blank Rome, Ms. Davis worked at The White House as Special Assistant to the Director of Homeland Security and as Deputy Director of Management and Administration from 2001 to 2003. From 1999 to 2000, Ms. Davis served in various roles during the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign. From 1997 to 2000, Ms. Davis was a Senior Associate at Greenlee Partners, a government affairs firm. Ms. Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts from Westminster College, where she also serves on the Board of Trustees, and a Masters of International Business from Esade Business School in Spain, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, and Fundação Getulio Vargas in Brazil.

Gregory H. A. Baxter has served as a director of our company since April 2006. In 2015, Mr. Baxter was elected as a director of Standard Diversified Inc. (“SDI”) and served as Executive Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO of SDI until 2020. Mr. Baxter has been an independent corporate finance consultant primarily for middle-market corporations and closely-held businesses since 2005. Previously, from 2003 to 2005, he was Managing Director and Head, Hedge Fund Sales and Marketing at Diaz & Altschul Capital Management, where his primary focus was bringing its investment products to prospective corporate and institutional clients. He was also a member of the Investment Committee. Immediately before joining Diaz & Altschul, he was Managing Director and Head of Generalist/Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions at SG Cowen Securities Corporation, the U.S. investment bank of French bank, Société Générale from 2000 to 2002. There, he re-established the cross-border effort and worked globally in industries such as food, retail, consumer products, transportation and oil and gas. He was also a member of the SG Cowen Fairness Opinion Review Committee. Before SG Cowen, he was at Rothschild Inc. for almost six years, from 1994 to 2000, where he specialized in advising on industrial/engineering companies, including automotive, domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. He was also a founding member of SW Capital, an M&A boutique that specialized in middle-market transactions for Fortune 500 companies. Before that, he was a Vice President of Irving Trust Company’s Corporate Financial Counseling Department, providing M&A and other corporate finance advice to the bank’s clients. Mr. Baxter holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria in Canada and a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey Business School in London, Canada.

H. C. Charles Diao has served as a director of our company since November 2012. Mr. Diao is Managing Director at Diao & Co. LLC which provides advisory services and manages his family’s investments. Mr. Diao serves on the board of directors of Griffon Corporation (NYSE: GFF) and is a member of its Finance Committee since February 2022. Mr. Diao also serves on the board of directors of Synechron Holdings Inc. and as Chairman of its Nominating and Governance Committee since April 2022.  Until July 2021, Mr. Diao served as Senior Vice President of Finance, Corporate Development and Corporate Treasurer of DXC Technology Company, and previously Vice President and Corporate Treasurer of its predecessor, Computer Science Corp since 2012, with responsibility for and management of global treasury operations, corporate finance and capital markets, corporate development and M&A, pension plans and risk management/insurance.  From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Diao was Managing Director and founder of Diao & Co., LLC, a firm that provided M&A and financial advisory services to corporate clients, and the Chief Investment Officer of Diao Capital Management LLC, an affiliate that managed alternative investments on behalf of institutional family offices.  Until 2008, Mr. Diao was formerly a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns where he was the Group Head for Special Situations Credit, a partner within the firm’s TMT investment banking practice and a member of the firm’s Investment Banking Committee and IPO Committee. Mr. Diao served as a member of the board of directors of Media General Inc. (NYSE: MEG), the successor via merger to New Young Broadcasting Holdings Inc., from 2012 until 2017.  He was Chairman of its Nominating and Governance Committee and a member of its Audit and Finance Committees.  He holds a B.S.E. from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Rohith Reddy has been a director of our company since May 2023. He has been Vice President, Managing Director On-Premise at Bacardi Limited/U.S.A., Inc. (“Bacardi”) since 2022. Bacardi is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world with a portfolio of more than two hundred brands and labels. Prior to his current position, Mr. Reddy served in several marketing-related roles since joining the company in 2011, including leadership roles on brands such as Bacardi rum, Grey Goose vodka, Patron tequila and Bombay Sapphire gin. Prior to his time at Bacardi, Mr. Reddy held the role of Senior Vice President, Group Account Director at Cavalry, an integrated advertising agency based in Chicago, working on brands such as MillerCoors. He also spent four years in Brand Management at Pabst Brewing Company from 2006 to 2011, where he oversaw the resurgence of several iconic beer brands. Prior to that, he served as Account Supervisor at both Energy BBDO and Leo Burnett. While at Leo Burnett, Mr. Reddy worked on brands such as Kraft and Marlboro. Mr. Reddy received a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration in international business strategy from the University of Manchester.

Stephen Usher has been a director of our company since March 2021. Mr. Usher is a Managing Director and Head of Distribution at Lafayette Square overseeing the business development activities across all the firm’s investment products. Prior to joining Lafayette, Mr. Usher was a partner at Standard General, an investment firm that manages event driven opportunity funds. He was formerly a Founding Partner of Serengeti Asset Management. Mr. Usher worked at Goldman Sachs (“Goldman”) from 1996 to 2005, during which time he built out Goldman’s European bank loan sales and sourcing effort in London and worked for Goldman’s distressed bank loan and bond sales and trading group in New York. He began his career at Citibank’s leveraged loan sales group. Mr. Usher currently serves on the board of directors of Mount Logan Capital (MLC.NE). He has served on several not-for-profit boards and is currently a member of the board of directors of The Harlem School of the Arts. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where he is currently a member of the President’s Council.

Mr. Wexler previously served as our President and CEO from June 2009 until his retirement in January 2022, and as President and Chief Operating Officer of North Atlantic Trading Company, Inc. (“NATC”), our primary operating subsidiary, since June 2006. Before June 2006, Mr. Wexler had been the Chief Operating Officer of NATC since June 2005, and before that, the President and Chief Operating Officer of one of our other subsidiaries beginning December 2003. Mr. Wexler was a consultant to a number of emerging marketing, communication and financial companies, advising them on financial, marketing and strategic matters, at times in an operating role from 1998 to 2003. From 1977 to 1998, he was employed by Philip Morris, USA in various positions in the Sales, Marketing and Finance Departments. As Group Director, Discount Brands, his group introduced the Basic and Alpine brands. He served as Senior Vice President of Marketing from 1992 to 1993 and Senior Vice President Finance, Planning and Information Services from 1993 until his departure in 1998. Mr. Wexler also serves as a strategic advisor to The Velour Group LLC, a Michigan-based boutique private equity firm engaged in the hands-on incubation of startups, including consumer goods, nutraceuticals, and cannabis. He is also on the advisory board of EDM Snacking, a consumer products company focused on tortilla chips. Mr. Wexler remains on the board of the Tobacco Merchants’ Association as Director Emeritus. Mr. Wexler holds a Bachelor of Science in administrative science from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

A director of our company since January 2013. Arnold Zimmerman has served in executive leadership and board positions for a number of consumer product companies. A director of our company since 2013, Mr. Zimmerman has been President of Catchers Mitt LLC, a marketing consulting company focused on personal care products, since 2007. For the previous five years, he was the Chairman and CEO of 291 Digital LLC, a graphics imaging and printing company, and was Chairman, President and CEO of AM Products Company from 1999 to 2002. He held a number of senior executive positions during a 25-year career with Revlon-North America. Mr. Zimmerman earned a B.A. from the University of Miami.