Business Wire

NY-PHILIP-MORRIS-INTL

24.8.2020 14:00:06 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Philip Morris International Names New SVP, External Affairs, to Accelerate Its Journey to a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE: PM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Gregoire Verdeaux to the position of Senior Vice President External Affairs effective September 1, 2020. In his new role, Mr. Verdeaux will report to the company’s CEO, André Calantzopoulos.

“Gregoire’s range of experiences—from working for national and E.U. parliaments and governments, the U.N., WHO, as well as private companies undergoing significant transformation—has given him a unique understanding of how political decisions are made. This makes him an ideal candidate to join us at PMI and help adapt the regulatory environment applicable to reduced risk products, as we continue our transformation to a smoke-free company,” said Mr. Calantzopoulos.

Mr. Verdeaux joins PMI from Hering Schuppener, where he was a partner. Prior to that, he served as group international policy director at Vodafone. At Vodafone, he built a team from the ground up focused on enabling the business with integrated regulatory strategies, such as ensuring license to operate in sensitive emerging markets in Africa and Asia. He directly engaged with high-level decision-makers in E.U. institutions and oversaw the coordination of policy, lobbying, antitrust, compliance, and other activities while supporting 12 national markets. He also worked to obtain fair competition in the broadband market between private investors and traditional incumbent competitors at the E.U. level.

Prior to Vodafone, Mr. Verdeaux served as European policy director at Electricité De France (EDF), where he proposed and designed group positions for key negotiations with the E.U. regarding competition, state aid cases, and top energy policy issues, especially nuclear energy.

Mr. Verdeaux’s highly relevant experience also includes a wealth of expertise in the public and NGO sectors. He served at the local level as deputy head of the cabinet of the French President, as administrator to the French senate and cabinet adviser to the minister of Foreign Affairs and to the European Commission. Additionally, he held the positions of director, strategy and finance, Unitaid, for the World Health Organization and manager in the United Nations Development Program.

Mr. Verdeaux holds degrees from Universite D’Auvergne, University of Oklahoma and Sciences Po.

This appointment follows the previous announcement of long-serving executive Marc Firestone’s intention to retire from the dual roles of President, External Affairs and General Counsel, and the appointment of Suzanne Rich Folsom as Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Reduced risk products (RRPs) is the term PMI uses to refer to products that present, are likely to present, or have the potential to present less risk of harm to smokers who switch to these products versus continuing smoking. PMI has a range of RRPs in various stages of development, scientific assessment, and commercialization. PMI’s RRPs are smoke-free products that produce an aerosol that contains far lower quantities of harmful and potentially harmful constituents than found in cigarette smoke.

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, and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. In addition, PMI ships a version of its IQOS Platform 1 device and its consumables authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Altria Group, Inc. for sale in the U.S. under license. 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 IQOS product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of June 30, 2020, PMI estimates that approximately 11.2 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI’s heat-not-burn product, available for sale in 57 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com .

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Incyte’s Pivotal frontMIND Trial Showed Tafasitamab (Monjuvi®/Minjuvi®) Combination Significantly Prolonged Progression-free Survival, Reducing the Risk of Disease Progression or Death by 25% in Patients with Previously Untreated, High-risk DLBCL30.5.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

The Phase 3 frontMIND study evaluated tafasitamab (Monjuvi®/Minjuvi®) and lenalidomide in addition to R-CHOP, the current standard of care, compared with R-CHOP alone in patients with previously untreated high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and high-grade B-cell lymphoma (HGBL)Positive trends toward progression-free survival (PFS) benefit with tafasitamab and lenalidomide plus R-CHOP (Tafa-Len-R-CHOP) were observed acrossprespecified subgroups, including in patients with centrally confirmed lymphoma subtypes and both cell-of-origin (COO) molecular subtypesThe frontMIND data support the submission of global regulatory applications for tafasitamab and lenalidomide added to R-CHOP for previously untreated DLBCLThe data are being presented in an oral session at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in The Lancet* Incyte (Nasdaq:INCY) today announced positive results from the pivotal Phase 3 frontMIND trial evaluating t

Fortegra Completes Acquisition by DB Insurance29.5.2026 22:30:00 CEST | Press release

The Fortegra Group, Inc. ("Fortegra"), a global specialty insurance company, today announced the completion of its acquisition by DB Insurance Co., Ltd. ("DB"), one of Korea's leading property and casualty insurers. The transaction, announced on September 26, 2025, received all required regulatory and stockholder approvals. Fortegra will operate independently, maintaining its existing leadership team, distribution relationships, and underwriting discipline. Agents, distribution partners, and customers will continue to experience the service excellence that has defined the Fortegra experience. Richard Kahlbaugh, Chairman and CEO of Fortegra, said: "Every company eventually changes ownership. That is the nature of business. The closing of this acquisition is a starting point. As part of DB Insurance, Fortegra is positioned to expand our business geographically, enhance our capabilities and deepen our market presence in the US, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. Together, DB Insurance a

SINOVAC Receives Nasdaq Notification Regarding Late Filing of 2025 Annual Report29.5.2026 22:01:00 CEST | Press release

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (Nasdaq: SVA) (“SINOVAC” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that it received a notification letter dated May 20, 2026 (the “Notification Letter”), from Nasdaq Listing Qualifications (“Nasdaq”) stating that as of May 8, 2026, the Company had regained compliance with the periodic filing and interim financial requirements in Nasdaq Listing Rules 5250(c)(1) (the “Periodic Filing Rule”) and 5250(c)(2), as required by the Panel’s decision dated January 21, 2026. As previously disclosed on January 22, 2026, under the Panel’s decision, SINOVAC was required to, on or before May 11, 2026, demonstrate compliance with such Nasdaq Listing Rules by completing filings of its annual report for the year ended December 31, 2024, on Form 20-F and an interim balance sheet and income statement as of the end of its second quarter of 2025 on Form 6-K. The Company timely completed such filings as required by the Panel’s decision.

From Network Automation to Agentic NetOps: NetBrain Sets the Standard for Deploying AI in Network Operations29.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Newest expansion of the NetBrain platform delivers Agent Skills, AI Path Doctor, MCP Server, and expanded cross-domain integrations, extending the agentic capabilities already running in production at hundreds of enterprises. NetBrain Technologies, Inc. today announced major new platform features that advance Agentic NetOps from an emerging category to operational reality. NetBrain's clients are already deploying agents that are diagnosing and remediating issues across complex multi-vendor enterprise networks. These new features further extend the platform with new agent tooling, cross-domain context, and open interfaces for the broader agentic enterprise. Early customer outcomes show the magnitude of the shift: A leading health insurer used NetBrain's Deep Diagnosis agent to diagnose and resolve a weeks old VPN connectivity issue in under five minutes. A large manufacturer resolved a critical device issue with a single prompt, isolating the root cause across the network path in under

Adtran resolves long-running patent litigation, reinforcing commitment to defend innovation29.5.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

News summary: Non-practicing entity litigation continues to create costly, time-consuming pressure across the technology industry Adtran has reached a full settlement following counterclaims, with payment made to Adtran and all claims dismissed with prejudice Outcome reflects Adtran’s commitment to defend its innovations, customers and business against meritless patent assertions Adtran today announced it has resolved a patent litigation matter, resulting in a full settlement and dismissal of all claims with prejudice. The case, initiated in 2020 by a non-practicing entity asserting five patents, was transferred to the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 2021 following a successful motion by Adtran. Adtran subsequently filed counterclaims, including bad-faith patent assertion under Alabama statutory law. The settlement includes payment to Adtran to resolve its counterclaims. Terms of the agreement remain confidential. “This outcome reflects a disciplined and consi

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye