Philip Morris International Names New Chief Product Officer
New CPO Will Bolster Consumer Focus, Driving New Product Introduction and Growth by Linking Product Life Cycle to Research and Marketing
LAUSANNE, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE:PM) today announced that Bin Li has stepped into the new role of chief product officer (CPO), effective Aug. 1, 2019. In this position, Mr. Li will own the industrial design and manage the product development of PMI’s reduced-risk product (RRP) category. He will build an organization that focuses on developing a superior product portfolio for today and tomorrow with risk-conscious speed and delivering quality that consumers, stakeholders and regulators trust.
“We operate in an extremely competitive and demanding environment where design and innovation must partner commercial and operational excellence to ensure continued market advantage. We need perpetual innovation and to think creatively, commercially and disruptively about current and next-generation consumer technology devices,” said André Calantzopoulos, PMI’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are very happy to welcome Bin into this role, finalizing a phase of expansion in our senior leadership team that we first made public in May.”
This news follows PMI’s May announcement of the creation of new leadership roles, including chief consumer officer, chief new ventures officer and chief life sciences officer. These moves have been made in order to accelerate the realization of the company’s vision of a smoke-free future as well as ensuring PMI’s long-term, sustainable leadership in the RRP category, further driving the company’s global growth and sustainable expansion of its innovative smoke-free product IQOS.
As CPO, Mr. Li will act as the authority on all matters related to innovative product development and platform technology strategy. He will be accountable for the research, development, maintenance and manufacturing of the electronics technology pipeline while accelerating the pace of PMI’s development cycle and industrialization.
Mr. Li is an entrepreneurial leader with strong technical, product development and operations background and vast experience in product design and innovation developed within world-class consumer electronics companies, such as Harman and Philips. As a forward thinker with a passion for design and technology, he has a proven track record of success translating the voice of the customer into new product development cycles. His ability to link the product life cycle to research and marketing to drive new product introduction and growth and leveraging his background in manufacturing to ensure efficiency and profitability will be an asset to deliver innovation in our smoke-free portfolio.
In his new position, Mr. Li will report to Mr. Calantzopoulos as part of PMI’s senior management team (SMT).
For more on this and other aspects of PMI’s game-changing transformation, please visit: www.pmi.com.
Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future
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, smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the U.S. 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, 2019, PMI estimates that approximately 8.0 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI’s heat-not-burn product, available for sale in 48 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.
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Contacts
David Fraser
Philip Morris International Media Office
T. +41 79 843 8603