The CEO of Winston-Salem-based Reynolds American Inc. is stepping down.
Debra Crew has been with Reynolds since 2014, but only took the CEO position at the start of 2017, replacing outgoing chief Susan Cameron.
Crew's short tenure was busy, as she was at the helm when British American Tobacco completed its acquisition of RAI, creating the largest publicly-traded tobacco firm in the world.
Earlier this year, BAT said it had no plans to make major changes to either the leadership or North Carolina workforce at Reynolds American. According to an announcement by British American, Crew decided to step down on her own to pursue other opportunities.
Ricardo Oberlander, a longtime BAT employee and Reynolds board member, will take over as president and CEO at the end of the year.
Reynolds is believed to have roughly 2,000 employees in the Triad, most of them at the company's Tobaccoville plant.