Reynolds American CEO Susan Cameron To Be Executive Chairman, Debra Crew New CEO

(RTTNews) - Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) said its board of directors has approved a succession plan for key members of the company's senior leadership team and board of directors.

Susan Cameron, currently RAI's president and CEO, will become executive chairman of the board of directors on January 1, 2017. She will serve as executive chairman until May 2017, at which time she is expected to become the non-executive chairman. Cameron was named CEO of RAI at the time the company was formed in 2004.

Debra Crew, currently president and chief operating officer of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, RAI's largest subsidiary, has been named president- and CEO-elect of RAI. She will become president and CEO of RAI on January 1, 2017, and will also become a member of the RAI board when she becomes CEO.

Further, the company announced that Joseph Fragnito, the former president of the U.S. beverages and snack nuts business unit of the Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC), will join R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as president and chief commercial officer on October. 24. Fragnito joined Kraft Foods Group in 2000.