British American Tobacco (BAT) has announced changes to its management board, naming a new regional director for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (Apmea).
The group said on Monday that Michael Dijanosic will step down from his role and the management board at the end of December to dedicate more time to family and friends.
Pascale Meulemeester will join BAT with effect from September 1, initially as regional director designate for Apmea and will take over Dijanosic’s role on January 1 2026.
Meulemeester is currently president of Western Europe at Barry Callebaut Group, a global chocolate and cocoa organisation, where she is a member of the executive leadership team, responsible for leading Barry Callebaut Group’s largest business segment and driving strategic initiatives across the region.
She previously held several other senior roles at Barry Callebaut Group, leading growth accelerations, transformation and business turnarounds in different regions including Asia-Pacific. Before that she spent seven years with Mars and worked at Sara Lee earlier in her career.
“With a track record of leading change and driving performance, Pascale’s appointment is another step towards building a truly inclusive culture, blending talent from both outside and inside the Company,” said CEO Tadeu Marroco.
“We expect that Pascale’s experiences and insights from other leading consumer goods companies will bring a valuable external perspective to the Apmea region and she will have a key role to play in the delivery of the group's strategic transformation.”
BAT, whose brands include Lucky Strike, Rothmans, Dunhill and Kent, said in June that it expects to return to revenue and profit growth in the US, despite volumes in the global tobacco industry expected to be down about 2%.
In a trading update last month, Marroco said the group’s revenue performance in the first half of the financial year was slightly ahead of its previous guidance, and it now expected to deliver full-year revenue growth of 1%-2% and 1.5%-2.5% adjusted profit from operations growth. Previously the group had expected 1% revenue growth.
“2025 is a deployment year and, as previously highlighted, we expect our performance to be second-half weighted, mainly driven by the rollout of ‘new category’ innovations in key markets from the middle of the year,” he said.
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