BAT Appoints Kingsley Wheaton To Succeed Andrew Gray As Chief Marketing Officer

(RTTNews) - British American Tobacco plc (BATS.L, BTI) announced Wednesday the appointment of Kingsley Wheaton as Chief Marketing Officer, effective January 1, 2019.

Wheaton, currently Regional Director, Americas and Sub Saharan Africa or AMSSA, succeeds Andrew Gray, who will step down from the Management Board at the end of December 2018 and will leave the Group on March 31, 2019.

Gray has been with the company for over 32 years. Having started as a management trainee with Brazilian subsidiary, Souza Cruz, he progressed to become Managing Director of BAT Malaysia and President of Souza Cruz before being appointed to the Management Board in 2008 as Regional Director Africa & Middle East.

Following that, he served as Regional Director, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa before assuming his current role as Chief Marketing Officer.

Wheaton has been with the company for 22 years and has been a member of the Management Board for nearly seven. Having held several senior roles in marketing and general management, Wheaton joined the Management Board as Director, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in 2012. In 2015 he was appointed as Managing Director, Next Generation Products before taking on his current role as Regional Director, AMSSA in November 2017.

The company will make an announcement regarding Kingsley's successor as Regional Director, AMSSA in due course.

In London, BAT shares were trading at 3,378.50 pence, down 1.14%.