Peter Ghiloni will retire as the president of Swisher International Inc. at the end of this year. John Miller, the vp of sales and marketing, has been promoted to replace him effective Jan. 1, 2018.
Ghiloni will retain his role as ceo through the end of 2018.
The departure of Ghiloni, a 34-year Swisher veteran, has other ripples across the company. Lou Caldropoli, the svp of finance, will be promoted to chief operations officer, a new role for the company. John Haley, vp of corporate marketing, will be the new svp of sales and marketing.
Swisher produces well over 1 billion of the small cigars and cigarillos, most using the Swisher Sweet name. It purchased Drew Estate in 2014, making it a large player in the premium cigar industry as well.
Ghiloni’s tenure as ceo oversaw the Drew Estate acquisition, as well as the creation of Swisher Dominicana, Inc., the Santiago-based factory that can produce over 10 million small cigars and cigarillos per day.
Swisher is owned by the Ziegler family.
Update: A clarification has been added that Ghiloni will give up his president role at the beginning of 2018 but stay on as ceo until the end of the year.