Altadis U.S.A. Expands Marketing Staff

The revamp of Altadis U.S.A.’s marketing staff continues with two new faces.

Rick Alvarez has joined the company as director of brand marketing and will report directly to Rob Norris, the company’s ceo. Alvarez most recently served as the international marketing manager for Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and previously worked with William Grant & Sons, a liquor company, and Chattem, a company that makes over-the-counter medicines such as IcyHot and Rolaids.

Altadis U.S.A. has also announced that it has hired Eddy Guerra as a senior brand manager. He will join the company on Feb. 1. Guerra has served as the marketing director for Gurkha since April 2016.

It’s the latest in a long list of changes that has seen Altadis U.S.A. replace nearly its entire marketing team, as well as its longtime outside agency, in a two-year period.

Altadis U.S.A. is an Imperial Brands, plc company. It sells Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann, Trinidad and others in the U.S. Because of trademark and legal issues, the company only sells these particular cigars in the U.S. It also sells non-Cuban marks like Henry Clay and VegaFina and is the distributor of the Aging Room portfolio of cigars.