Articles

Background Robert (‘Bob’) Dyrbus was Chief Financial Officer of Imperial Tobacco from 1996 to 2013, when he retired.1 Long-Standing Career in Tobacco Industry According to CFO World: Dyrbus’s association with the company began in 1985 when Hanson plc took over Imperial Tobacco Limited. Based in London, which is still the family home, he looked after the conglomerate’s tobacco…

Dr Richard Tubb is a retired Brigadier General in the US Air Force and former White House physician. He served three presidents in various White House capacities, including director of the White House Medical Unit and physician to the president, and retired from the White House and the Air Force in 2009.2 Relationship with Tobacco Industry Was Board Member…

Background Richard Ross joined Imperial Tobacco in 2010 as Head of Political Affairs UK.10 Before joining Imperial, Ross worked for over a decade at pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithkline, among other things, as Director Compliance and Regulatory Affairs. Access to Confidential European Council Documents Email correspondence between Ross and the UK Department of Health in 2013 revealed that Imperial Tobacco…

Richard Ottaway was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South (England) from 1992 to 2015.14 Relationship with the Tobacco Industry Accepted Tobacco Hospitality In May 2011, Ottaway accepted two tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show worth £1,150 from Japan Tobacco International (JTI).15 JTI spent £23,000 entertaining MPs in the UK in six months during…

Richard Lyle was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Uddingston and Bellshill, in the Central Scottish region of Lanarkshire, from 2016-2021.22 He was a member of several Cross-Party Groups in the Scottish Parliament, including the Group on Health Inequalities and the Group on Independent Convenience Stores.23 The Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF),…

Richard Burrows was appointed Chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT) in November 2009.42 In April 2019, the media reported that BAT was seeking a new Chairman to succeed Burrows.43 In October 2020, BAT announced that Burrows would be stepping down after the 2021 AGM, to be replaced by Luc Jobin.4445 Background Burrows began his…

Ricardo Oberlander has been a member of the British American Tobacco (BAT) management team since 2013.47 On 31 December 2017 Oberlander took up the position of President and CEO of Reynolds American (RAI).48 BAT has owned RAI since July 2017. Career with British American Tobacco Oberlander joined BAT’s Brazilian subsidiary Souza Cruz in 1989, and has…

Figure 1: Screengrab of Reviti trademark filing, accessed April 2019 Reviti is a life insurance company launched in April 2019 which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Philip Morris International (PMI).54 Background The London-based company specialises in offering life insurance to smokers, with discounts for those who reduce or switch to PMI’s newer nicotine and tobacco products.

Background Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) lobbies for action on tobacco and fuel smuggling citing the impact on retailers in the Republic of Ireland. It was set up in June 2009 and is based in Dublin. It has links to the tobacco industry. Staff The following staff are listed on the organisation’s website Benny Gilsenan; national spokesman. Gilsenan is listed…

“Paint Antis as Extremists” Background Project Sunrise was a decade-long project undertaken by Philip Morris, intended to lead to the “dawn of a new day” for the tobacco giant in the 1990s when the company was under attack from various public health bodies and on legal fronts. Divide and Rule Having studied 600 internal industry documents about the…