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Reynolds American CEO Will Step Down At End Of August

Reynolds CEO Ricardo Oberlander will step down on August 31. Photo courtesy of British American Tobacco.

The president of Reynolds American Inc. is stepping down. 

Parent company British American Tobacco PLC announced Wednesday that Ricardo Oberlander will leave his post on August 31. Oberlander has been the chief executive at Reynolds American for about two and a half years. He spent seven years as a member of the Management Board.

According to a news release, Oberlander is leaving “in order to pursue other opportunities.” He'll be replaced by Guy Meldrum, who has served in a number of senior roles with British American.

British American Chief Executive Jack Bowles released a statement thanking Oberlander for leaving the company in robust shape.

Reynolds Tobacco Co., which has deep roots in Winston-Salem, merged with a British American unit in 2004 and was fully taken over by the company in 2017. Now known as Reynolds American, the company maintains its headquarters in the city. It remains the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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