BAT has appointed Dr James Murphy as its new director of research and science.
Murphy has been with BAT Group for more than 17 years in various senior roles, most recently as executive vice president for R&D in the US.
Murphy has played a “significant role” in the development of BAT’s non-cigarette categories “since day one” the company said, having been product development lead for the company’s first vape launches in 2013.
In his former role as head of reduced risk substantiation, Murphy created and published the group’s nine-step scientific assessment framework to assess BAT’s new category products.
He’ll be based at BAT’s Research & Development hub in Southampton, and lead the tobacco giant’s global Research & Science team. Murphy joins the management board as part of the role, reporting to the chief executive.
“James is a highly experienced, much-admired leader, with a proven track record of positively impacting our global scientific engagement with regulators, media and the external scientific community,” said Jack Bowles, BAT CEO.
“BAT has made significant progress over recent years to advance our commitment to tobacco harm reduction and deliver our purpose of building ‘A Better Tomorrow’. James’ leadership and experience will help further accelerate that progress,” Bowles added.
He replaces Dr David O’Reilly, who will leave BAT at the end of this month “to pursue other interests” BAT said. O’Reilly joined the management board in 2012, and “has been instrumental, both internally and externally, in driving the science agenda that has underpinned BAT’s transformation” the company added.
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