Dan Carr is out as president of General Cigar Company, the company whose brands include Macanudo, CAO, Partagas, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana and numerous others that are staples in the humidors of retailers across the United States.
While a spokesperson for General Cigar didn’t confirm that Carr had been dismissed, it was confirmed that a press release regarding the matter will be issued next week. Multiple sources familiar with the situation confirmed to halfwheel that Carr had been removed, and Carr was still listed as being on the ST Group board of directors as of Friday afternoon.
The move comes less than a year after Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the parent of General Cigar Company, announced that Niels Frederiksen had been hired as CEO. Frederiksen has taken a noted interest in the operations of the company’s premium cigar divisions, both in Europe and the United States, with increasing scrutiny on the growth of the U.S. market, and he personally oversees the operations of the European premium cigar division.
Carr spent nearly 20 years with General Cigar, joining the company in 1996, moving to vice president of sales within a few years before being assigned to the machine made division of Swedish Match AB when they bought General’s mass market division. After Swedish Match General Cigar in 2005, Carr returned to premium cigars as senior vice president of sales and marketing in 2007 before being promoted to chief operating officer in 2009 and president in 2010. Following the merger of 2010 merger of Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group, one of Carr’s primary tasks was to integrate the operations of the companies.
The Cigar Authority was the first to report the news.