Romania, the strategic regional leader for BAT. Richard Widmann, company’s new regional manager

Following the Management Board changes, Romania becomes the strategic leader of British American Tobacco (BAT) for eight countries in southern and south-eastern Europe and for Kosovo, a press release informs.

Thus, BAT operations in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia will be coordinated from Romania.

Richard Widmann (photo), BAT’s new regional director, will manage all new area operations in Bucharest. He is replacing Gemma Webb, who will take over the position of general manager for BAT UK & Ireland as of January 2018 and the responsibilities for Western Europe in the field of new generation products. Gemma joined BAT in 2001, and before coming in Romania in 2012, she held a number of executive positions globally.

With a 15-year experience within the company, Richard has an overview of BAT operations, being Commercial Director in Malaysia and the Americas, Marketing Director in South Africa, and, in the last 4 years playing the General Manager role of Central and Eastern Europe of British American Tobacco.

”Romania is an important country for British American Tobacco and that’s why, over the last 20 years, we have constantly invested here in the factory in Ploiesti, in our employees and in the development of the whole business. The fact that Romania has been chosen as a regional leader demonstrates both its growth potential and our firm commitment to the future,” Richard Widmann stated.

During Webb’s term, the BAT Romania team almost doubled and thus reached about 2,500 people. ”Thanks to all these individual and team performances, BTA is today the leader in Romania with a market share of over 55 percent,” Webb noted.