Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
For a description of our material pending legal proceedings, please see Contingencies in Note 18 to the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Also see ‘Risk Factors—We are subject to significant product liability litigation’ for additional details.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
Information about our Executive Officers
Listed below are the executive officers of the Company. Our executive officers are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, our board of directors. There are no family relationships between any of the executive officers, and there is no arrangement or understanding between any executive officer and any other person pursuant to which the executive officer was selected.
Lawrence S. Wexler , age 68, has served as our President and CEO since June 2009 and as President and Chief Operating Officer of NATC, our primary operating subsidiary since June 2006. Prior to June 2006, Mr. Wexler had been the Chief Operating Officer of NATC since June 2005, and prior to that, the President and Chief Operating Officer of one of our other subsidiaries since December 2003. Mr. Wexler was a consultant to a number of emerging marketing, communication, and financial companies, advising them on financial, marketing and strategic matters, at times in an operating role, from 1998 to 2003. From 1977 to 1998, he was employed by Philip Morris, USA in various positions in the Sales, Marketing, and Finance Departments. As Group Director, Discount Brands, his group introduced the Basic and Alpine brands. He served as Senior Vice President of Marketing from 1992 to 1993 and Senior Vice President Finance, Planning, and Information Services from 1993 until his departure in 1998. Mr. Wexler holds a Bachelor of Science in administrative science from Yale and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford.
Graham Purdy, age 49, was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in November 2019 after serving as President of our New Ventures Division since December 2017. Mr. Purdy joined us in 2004 and has held various leadership positions since that time. Prior to joining us, Mr. Purdy spent 7 years at Philip Morris, USA where he served in senior sales and sales management positions. Mr. Purdy holds a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Chico.
Robert Lavan , age 38, joined us as Chief Financial Officer in March 2018. Prior to that he had served as a consultant for us since January 2018. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Lavan was the Chief Financial Officer of General Wireless Operations from January 2017 to January 2018, where he was responsible for revamping the company’s financial reporting systems and building a robust distribution platform that linked multiple eCommerce sites and Amazon. From 2014 until Mr. Lavan’s appointment as Chief Financial Officer of General Wireless Operations, Mr. Lavan served as an analyst for Standard General LP, a New York-based investment firm that is a significant shareholder of TPB. Before that, Mr. Lavan worked at SAC Capital and J. Goldman & Co. LP in various analyst and portfolio manager roles covering a wide range of industries. He began his career at The Blackstone Group. Mr. Lavan holds a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Brittani N. Cushman , age 36, has been our Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary since November 2020 and has served in various roles in our legal department since joining us in October 2014. Prior to joining us, Ms. Cushman spent five years at Xcaliber International, Ltd., L.L.C., where she was most recently the General Counsel, responsible for all legal affairs. Ms. Cushman holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in business management from the University of Tulsa and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
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PART II