STG Announces New Roles for Seven Former Alec Bradley Employees

In February, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) purchased Alec Bradley and said that it would integrate the brand into its Forged Cigar Co. division within the first half of 2023. Shortly after the deal closed, STG made offers to various Alec Bradley employees for new roles within STG, some of which the company is now announcing.

Michael Serota, previously the head of sales for Alec Bradley, will be the South Region Sales Manager for Forged. Six sales representatives will report to Serota, who spent a dozen years at Alec Bradley. Serota will work under Sean Hardiman, national sales manage of field sales.

In addition, STG has announced six other former Alec Bradley employees will have new roles within STG:

• Jarid Casebolt — Field Sales Team for Arizona, Nevada & New Mexico (General Cigar Co.)
• Jedidiah Jocelyn — Account Representative for Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi & Tennessee (Forged Cigar Co.)
• Jeremy Lemke — Account Representative for Illinois (Forged Cigar Co.)
• Ryan Ponist — Account Representative for Ohio & Western Pennsylvania (Forged Cigar Co.)
• John Troiano — Account Representative for Upstate New York (Forged Cigar Co.)
• John Vinaccia — Field Sales Team for Southern California (General Cigar Co.)

In at least one instance, STG replaced one of its sales representatives with a new hire from Alec Bradley.

Additionally, David Mealey has been promoted to national sales manager, field sales for General Cigar Co. Mealey joined STG in 2021 after working at Nat Sherman International.

“As we integrate the Alec Bradley cigar brands and continue to grow STG’s handmade cigar portfolio, we are taking proactive steps to ensure we are well-positioned to support our brands now and into the future,” said Gene Richter, vp of sales for STG North America, in a press release. “With a larger team and increased coverage, we will be better equipped to serve the demands of our valued retail partners.”

STG said that it would integrate the Alec Bradley portfolio of brands into Forged by June. Between February, when the $72.5 million purchase of Alec Bradley was announced, and now, STG kept Alec Bradley’s existing team in place. When the deal was announced, STG said Alec Bradley had 30 full-time employees in North America. Last month, STG announced new roles for Alec Rubin, Bradley Rubin and Jonathan Lipson.

General Cigar Co.’s portfolio includes CAO, Cohiba, Don Tomás, Hoyo de Monterrey, Macanudo, Punch, Royal Agio, Sancho Panza and Humi-Care.

Forged’s portfolio includes Bolivar, Chillin’ Moose, Diesel, El Rey del Mundo, El Rico Habano, La Gloria Cubana, Los Stratos, Partagas and Room101.

For brands like Bolivar, Cohiba, El Rey del Mundo, Hoyo de Monterrey, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas Punch and Sancho Panza, General/Forged sell the non-Cuban versions in the U.S. while Habanos S.A. sells the Cuban versions in markets outside of the U.S.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.